http://www.democraticspace.com/canada2008 14 October 2008 Tue, 08 Sep 2009 00:12:12 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Alberta's turnout was among the lowest in the country, fourth from the bottom, with the Northwest Territories (48.6%), Nunavut (49.4%) and Newfoundland & Labrador (48.1%) the only provinces or territories lower.In the case of Alberta ... that 94.6% virtual seat sweep was courtesy of 34.2% of the Alberta electorate. The ... http://www.democraticspace.com/canada2008/2008/10/star-wants-democracy-only-for-some/ "Dion is toast"; "The Party of Toronto"; "We gotta change the sheets" – these are just some of the damning comments heard from inside the Liberal Party in the aftermath of the election on Tuesday. One party insider even suggested that if Liberal leader Stéphane Dion refuses to resign, the ... http://www.democraticspace.com/canada2008/2008/10/editorial-liberal-leadership/ Now that the dust has settled from the election, I'd like to give a big thanks to all of our writers here at DemocraticSPACE. It was an experiment to have people of all political stripes from across the country report and give their analysis of what was happening locally and ... http://www.democraticspace.com/canada2008/2008/10/a-big-thanks-to-all-our-writers/ As most suspected, Liberal incumbent Peter Milliken was re-elected to a seventh term last night over rivals Brian Abrams (Conservative), Rick Downes (NDP), and Eric Walton (Green). The surprise of the evening, however, was how close the race was. While Milliken still won by a somewhat comfortable margin ... http://www.democraticspace.com/canada2008/2008/10/kingston-race-closer-than-expected/ Thirty-seven days and about $300 million later, Canadians awake to a "new" government in Ottawa. The Conservatives under Prime Minister Stephen Harper have built on their previous minority position and added a substantial number of seats, just a tad short of a majority. The Liberals, meanwhile, have seen the biggest ... http://www.democraticspace.com/canada2008/2008/10/editorial-a-stronger-minority/ (note : this is a rewriting of a comment I just wrote on one of Greg's article, which I found worthy to publish as an article by ots own ; it's my first non-french post, so please excuse my bad english) As a quabecer, one thing is now very clear after yesterday's election. It's that nowadays, the ... http://www.democraticspace.com/canada2008/2008/10/lets-deal-with-the-problem-once-for-all/ So the Conservatives win another minority, as expected. But it's a little stronger than most, including DemocraticSPACE, projected. As we noted in our commentary, there were a wide range of possible outcomes due to the margin of error in the projections, with the best-case scenario for the Conservatives being 146 ... http://www.democraticspace.com/canada2008/2008/10/post-mortem-92-right-8-wrong/ C’est sans surprise que Meili Faille du Bloc Québécois conserve son poste de député à Ottawa. Félicitation à cette femme de terrain qui saura travailler fort pour la région, malgré le rôle du bloc dans l’opposition. Je reviendrai avec une impression plus exhaustive dans les prochains jours. Avec ... http://www.democraticspace.com/canada2008/2008/10/meili-faille-garde-l%e2%80%99estime-des-citoyens-dans-vaudreuil-soulanges/ Every election there are things that happen that are surprising and things that are not surprising. Here are some off the top of my head. Surprising: 1. That Canadians backed the Conservatives more heavily than opinion surveys suggested, earning them a stronger-than-expected minority. 2. How poor some of the Quebec riding polls were. ... http://www.democraticspace.com/canada2008/2008/10/most-and-least-surprising/ Election 08 now goes down in history for being the first federal election campaign to have generated such public disdain that over 40% of the electorate didn't bother even to cast a vote. Only 59.1 percent of us showed up at the polls.Did vote swapping or strategic voting work? Not ... http://www.democraticspace.com/canada2008/2008/10/historic-low-in-voter-turnout-indictment-of-gaming-the-vote/ Stephane Dion gave his best speech of the election on election night. His English was very good, he spoke forcefully and with clarity, and he addressed the most important issue facing Canadians: the problems of the economy. It's an irony of politics that his remarks came in a concession speech. Had ... http://www.democraticspace.com/canada2008/2008/10/what-next-for-the-liberals/ Top 10 Things to Watch as Results Come in... 1. To what extent will strategic voting play a role? While better organized this time, it may only make a difference in a handful of close ridings. 2. Did Danny Williams' ABC (Anyone But Conservative) campaign work? Combined with the retirement of 2 ... http://www.democraticspace.com/canada2008/2008/10/what-to-watch-for-tonight/ DemocraticSPACE projects a Conservative minority government. But whether it is a strong or weak minority remains to be seen. And the numbers matter, because it will determine who will hold the balance of power since the Conservatives will need support to pass legislation. Our average projection shows C 126, L ... http://www.democraticspace.com/canada2008/2008/10/commentary-about-our-projections/ I predict the following electoral outcomes in northeastern Ontario tonight: 1 Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing: This will be one of the closest races in the region. Carol Hughes of the NDP by a nose. 2 Nickel Belt: Another close race but the NDP's Claude Gravelle will take it at the end of a long night. 3 ... http://www.democraticspace.com/canada2008/2008/10/northeastern-ontario-predictions/ Someone over at another blog made the following comments:All I am asking is that the rest of us ... appreciate how those most informed on this critical issue are so conflicted in our allegiances... Let’s hope that in the next government ... we begin the process of moving to a ... http://www.democraticspace.com/canada2008/2008/10/making-system-work-not-all-up-to-voters/ It is widely believed that all 28 ridings in Alberta will go to the Conservatives, but there are two ridings that might switch to a different couleur. The first one is Calgary Northeast. This riding, which used to belong to Art Hanger, who is retiring from politics, is the scene of ... http://www.democraticspace.com/canada2008/2008/10/alberta-ridings-of-note/ The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) had an ingenious idea for this election campaign, called Canada Votes: X-Challenge: a townhall-like meeting where voters have a chance to confront candidates of the main political parties. The CBC ran two instalments, one taped in Toronto and the other in Vancouver. The way it ... http://www.democraticspace.com/canada2008/2008/10/editorial-respect-democracy-when-you-vote-today/ I’ll stay out of the predictions game outside of my province. So since everyone and their Mom is posting on this, lets cut to the chase: Battleford-Llyodminster: Winner: Gerry Ritz (CON) Blackstrap: Winner: Lynne Yelich (CON) Cypress Hills-Grassland: Winner: David Anderson (CON) Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River: Winner: Rob Clarke (CON) Palliser: Winner: Ray Boughen (CON) Prince Albert: Winner: Randy Hoback (CON) Regina-Lumsden-Lake Centre: Winner: Tom Lukiwski ... http://www.democraticspace.com/canada2008/2008/10/saskatchewan-ridings-e-day-predictions/ What a difference a couple of seats might make! Greg Morrow's latest forecast - 126 seats for theHarper Conservatives and 128 for the Liberals and NDP combined -- sets up some interesting possibilities. Let's suppose, as Greg predicdts, that the election gives the Liberals and the NDP more seats than the ... http://www.democraticspace.com/canada2008/2008/10/opening-for-a-crisis-coalition/ I ventured over to the Centre Eugène-Sauvageau in Gatineau today to vote. I was there early, having arrived at about 9h45. The community centre is familiar to me as I worked there during the last provincial election for the advanced voting days. The place wasn't exactly packed this morning but ... http://www.democraticspace.com/canada2008/2008/10/voting-in-hull-aylmer/