CANADIANS!!

[EC]

Git on out and vote today, pals!  Wouldn't it be tremendous if we didn't turn blue today?

Has anybody seen the Nelly Furtado and the basketball dude's psa's on tv?  My friends made those.  :)  (Mark Vogelsang did the music for the Nelly one.  Actually, he did the hip hop music for the basketball one, too.)

Yes, I am showing off.  ;)  On their behalf.

[Jaimoe]

I'm voting after I work-out. Hopefully the weightlifting will help me choose between the New Democrats and the Liberals. I'm in Jack Layton's riding too.

[EC]

I'm voting after I work-ut. Hopefully the weightlifting will help me choose between the New Democrats and the Liberals. I'm in Jack Layton's riding too.

Yeah, I voted for a different party than I ever did before, but I really like the guy in my riding, and apparently people who know him say that he is, in fact, a wonderful person.  Plus I talked to him when he came around a few weeks ago, and I liked him even before I knew why he rang our doorbell.

I think I voted for Jack when I lived around there.  I used to be in Olivia's riding, too.  

[Angry Ewok]

I love you, Canadians...

 :-*

[Jaimoe]

I voted for Jack Layton.  

[EC]

I voted for Jack Layton.  

Rock!

So, our dude, oh I might as well say that I voted for Gord Perks.  I don't know why I'm always so secretive about it.  Anyhow, he had people roaming the street today making sure that people voted, they emailed me, and phoned me.  Gettin' down on the people to make sure they fucking vote.  I really appreciate that.

[MMJ_fanatic]

may the best candidates win!

[cmccubbin25]

what are "ridings"?

[EC]

 :'(  god.damn.it  Goodbye arts funding.  

ridings are the areas where we elect our MPs.  Canada works differently than the US, in that we vote on our ridings in our national elections, instead of voting on the prime minister.  And for each riding, someone wins, and they get a seat in parliament.  The prime minister is the person who's party reflects the most won seats.  I'm not sure if it's better or worse.

Anyhow, who fucking cares.  This sucks.

At least now the US and Canadian governments are a little more similar.   >:(

[wellfleet]

good bye, also, to not being the US' bitch, good bye to not participating in the war in Iraq, good bye to safe and legal abortions, good bye to taking care of poor people...

at least with a minority government, they won't be able to make anything pass without compromising with another Party so maybe it's not all bad. Less than 35% of Canadians actually voted for the Conservatives, 65% voted for someone else... so depressing.

[jrat]

im new here, just went to the site today, listened to every streaming audio and video. i went out and bought their latest 2 cds between periods in the sens vs.shithole leafs game, and have actually been listening to this music since 2 pm this afternoon. its now almost 12:30 am, and i just turned it off. head phones killing my ears, otherwise id listen till i woke up...SO here comes our new found republican government. get your coat hangers straightened, cause abortion is about to abolished. and i bought a sword incase i have to go war too. and i sold a whole poppler tree to my friend in new york for 3 bucks too.i guess id better get used to it

[Jaimoe]

At least it's a minority Conservative government and I'm relieved that Ontario's provincial government is Liberal. Other than that, we'll have to wait and see how long this new government lasts. The last minority Conservative government lasted only 9 months.

[wellfleet]

i'm so brokenhearted. it's even worse to be away from home now...
thanks to everyone who voted NDP. did anyone think the NDP would get 155 seats or even 100 to become the official opposition? all it did was take votes away from the Liberals... this sucks.
i feel bad for all may gay friends, my poor friends, my artsy friends...
but it goes to show that the majority of canadians voted *against* the conservatives, who got 36% of the vote. my fellow quebeckers must be out of their minds!

[EC]

i'm so brokenhearted. it's even worse to be away from home now...
thanks to everyone who voted NDP. did anyone think the NDP would get 155 seats or even 100 to become the official opposition? all it did was take votes away from the Liberals... this sucks.
i feel bad for all may gay friends, my poor friends, my artsy friends...
but it goes to show that the majority of canadians voted *against* the conservatives, who got 36% of the vote. my fellow quebeckers must be out of their minds!

Well it's not as easy as that wellfleet.  There are a number of theories around strategic voting in Canada.  I always think it makes the most sense to vote within your riding.  If you don't want your PC guy to win, vote in favour of the person opposing him/her, unless that person is really bad, and then go for the third.  There's no point in voting Liberal in your riding if the riding is NDP vs. Conservative - see what I'm saying?

Also, I have a lot of respect for people who just vote the way they want.  I get tired of the strategies, and it makes me frustrated, because that's not the way it's supposed to be.

Having said that, it worked out both ways in my riding, even though my dude didn't win.  We got an all right fella.  Our riding was hilarious, though.  (I'm rounding the numbers, so they're slightly off)
Liberals at 52%
NDP at 33%
Conservatives at 11%
Green Party 4% (with 1440 votes, rock!!)
Communist Party got 176 votes
Candian Action Party got 122 votes (I don't even know what that party stands for)
And the Marxist Leninists got 106 votes.

Let's cross section it with a town in, oh, say Alberta.  Okay, so Medicine Hat:
Conservatives 80%
Liberals 8%
NDP 8%
Green Party 8%

At least Saskatchewan was a little more evened out.  Man alive.  (I should explain here, that farming provinces tend to vote Conservative because historically, Conservatives have taken better care of the farmers.)

Anyhow.  poop.

[EC]

p.s.  Who's the one "other" seat?  Did we get a green party in there?!  If so, who?  How exciting!!

on edit: no, just a quebec independent.

[wellfleet]

keep in mind i only left canada 5 months ago. i'm very much aware of the way the system works.
it's easy for me to vote my conscience in my riding (stephane dion's) because it always turns out to be 70% or more Liberal.
i hate the strategies too, because they disregard to actual power of the popular vote. if only 36% of ALL canadians want stephen harper's conservatives (or stephen harris according to the brilliant minds at Fox News) to be PM and the ruling party, then 64%, the clear majority, want none of them...
the government collapsing again is not a good thing...
oh canada...

[EC]

Well, again, I say that this is a much better situation than if we were in a majority government.  Nothing will get done.  It can't - the opposition is far too large.  NDP and Liberals will be friends, and so we'll basically have the governement we want anyhow, except just some dumbass dude pretending to lead the country, making us look pretty stupid for electing him (even though, technically we didn't elect him, but nobody understands canadian parliamentary system - except maybe the british).  ;)

[peanut butter puddin surprise]

Oh, I understand it well.  This election has the Bush camp licking their chops in anticipation of some kind of Republican revolution in Canada....

But, you are correct-due to the Parlimentary system, he's going to be more useless than a wet noodle spanking.  ;)

[wellfleet]

wet noodle spanking just happens to be Canada's national sport. it's so HOT!  ;D

EC... yep. you're 100% right. guess we'll just sit and wait to see what happens. i saw an interview last night with a guy who said that Canada will now increase military spending and back out on Kyoto. and to this i say GRRR! who is attacking Canada? we're like everybody's middle-aged accountant brother... and i say that with a deep love for accountants and middle-aged men!

[EC]

I know a very hot middle-aged accountant.  I say we use him as our prototype.  

Canada = sexy.  I think.  :)