New boss, same as the old boss....
Oct. 15th, 2008 09:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ltmurnauI'm posting this here mostly for future reference and present bitterness:
As for the record low turnout (about 59% across the country), I think people will regret this as this election may prove to have been more important than most people think, for the overall direction of the country. It also seemed to me that the election was effectively over by the time the polls in the Lakehead region closed, the way it's been with practically every other election - the match-ups in BC might have been diverting but they did not make or break the new government.
Also, once again we come to the fatal mismatch between voter numbers and seats occupied (vs. the number "due" them in a simple re-by-pop system (just for comparison)):
Conservatives: 38% and 143 seats (117)
Liberals: 26% and 76 seats (80)
BQ: 10% and 50 seats (31)
NDP: 18% and 37 seats (55)
Green: 7% and 0 seats (22)
But I know that is not how the game is played, nor how it will ever be played.
I was particuarly annoyed at what happened in my riding, where the Conservative candidate (the simple-minded Minister of Natural Resources, "Mr. Isotope" if you remember that incident) was elected for his fifth term but not by much - the Liberal candidate would have won if the 3,667 people who voted for the NDP candidate WHO WASN'T EVEN IN THE RACE (he had withdrawn weeks before but the ballots had already been printed) had voted for her (as apparently about 8,000 NDP did, to go by last election's results - but at least 5,000 just stayed home: see 2006 results below). Were these votes in protest or did they simply not even know he was gone?
Saanich - Gulf Islands 2008 Results (64,448 votes in all)
CON Gary Lunn 27,988 votes 43.43% of all votes Elected
LIB Briony Penn 25,367 votes 39.36%
GRN Andrew Lewis 6,732 votes 10.45%
NDP Julian West 3,667 votes 5.69%
LTN Dale Leier 246 votes 0.38%
WBP Patricia O'Brien 195 votes 0.30%
CAP Jeremy Arney 139 votes 0.22%
CHP Dan Moreau 114 votes 0.18%
2006 Results for Saanich-Gulf Islands (65,721 votes in all)
Gary Lunn CON 24,416 votes 37.15% Elected
Jennifer Burgis NDP 17,445 26.54%
Sheila Orr LIB 17,144 26.09%
Andrew Lewis GRN 6,533 9.94%
Patricia O'Brien WBP 183 0.28%
As for the record low turnout (about 59% across the country), I think people will regret this as this election may prove to have been more important than most people think, for the overall direction of the country. It also seemed to me that the election was effectively over by the time the polls in the Lakehead region closed, the way it's been with practically every other election - the match-ups in BC might have been diverting but they did not make or break the new government.
Also, once again we come to the fatal mismatch between voter numbers and seats occupied (vs. the number "due" them in a simple re-by-pop system (just for comparison)):
Conservatives: 38% and 143 seats (117)
Liberals: 26% and 76 seats (80)
BQ: 10% and 50 seats (31)
NDP: 18% and 37 seats (55)
Green: 7% and 0 seats (22)
But I know that is not how the game is played, nor how it will ever be played.
I was particuarly annoyed at what happened in my riding, where the Conservative candidate (the simple-minded Minister of Natural Resources, "Mr. Isotope" if you remember that incident) was elected for his fifth term but not by much - the Liberal candidate would have won if the 3,667 people who voted for the NDP candidate WHO WASN'T EVEN IN THE RACE (he had withdrawn weeks before but the ballots had already been printed) had voted for her (as apparently about 8,000 NDP did, to go by last election's results - but at least 5,000 just stayed home: see 2006 results below). Were these votes in protest or did they simply not even know he was gone?
Saanich - Gulf Islands 2008 Results (64,448 votes in all)
CON Gary Lunn 27,988 votes 43.43% of all votes Elected
LIB Briony Penn 25,367 votes 39.36%
GRN Andrew Lewis 6,732 votes 10.45%
NDP Julian West 3,667 votes 5.69%
LTN Dale Leier 246 votes 0.38%
WBP Patricia O'Brien 195 votes 0.30%
CAP Jeremy Arney 139 votes 0.22%
CHP Dan Moreau 114 votes 0.18%
2006 Results for Saanich-Gulf Islands (65,721 votes in all)
Gary Lunn CON 24,416 votes 37.15% Elected
Jennifer Burgis NDP 17,445 26.54%
Sheila Orr LIB 17,144 26.09%
Andrew Lewis GRN 6,533 9.94%
Patricia O'Brien WBP 183 0.28%
