The federal Conservative party won with 167 seats in the House of Commons when it needed only 155 seats for a majority. Where did these seats come from?
These additional seats did not come from the four Western provinces. The four Western provinces had a total of 72 Conservative seats before and after this past election.
The Harper government lost five seats in Quebec, but gained four of them back in Atlantic Canada and the territories.
The additional Conservative party seats came from Ontario, where the Tories went from 51 seats to 73 seats – a gain of 22 seats.
That is, the Harper government won a majority without depending on Quebec and the Atlantic provinces.
Outside of Quebec, the NDP gained only nine seats. In Quebec, the NDP replaced the Bloc as the winning party. A Pyrrhic victory.
Fred Perry
Surrey
Not optimistic about the next four years
Following the election, in my view we can expect in the next four years: The systematic dismantling of Medicare; oil tankers plying the inner passes of the West Coast; the selling of our water to private American companies (which will then sell that water back to us for a profit); the possible return of capital punishment; no adequate monies allocated for ensuring clean water for Aboriginals on reservations; banks and large multi-national companies getting even more in terms of extraordinary tax breaks; little in the way of consumer protection legislation; continued contempt for Parliament and its rules (and precedent-setting “conventions” of Parliamentary practice); no electoral reform; And U.S. Homeland Security officials defining both border and immigration policies for Canada, diminishing our sovereignty permanently.
I am sad that our national collective choice (politically) reflects an attitude and social values that say, “Me first all the way” and also say: money and profit will be the foundation for most ethical decision making in Canada, for at least the next four years.
Bruce Holvick
Delta
Sukh Dhaliwal will be missed
Through my community service I have had a lot of interaction with politicians in this area.
Former Member of Parliament Sukh Dhaliwal has definitely been a go-to-guy. He is one of a few politicians who will open his wallet, as well as his mouth, in support of a good community project.
We worked together to raise the money for Operation Remembrance, which placed headstones on the unmarked graves of some 30 First World War veterans, as well as other projects.
Sukh, thanks for your commitment to those of us who believe in community service and for putting a very successful business life on hold to be our Member of Parliament. You will be missed.
Andrew Block
President
Delta Pacific Benefit Brokers Ltd.
Time for online voting
We live in a technologically advanced country in technologically advanced times and yet the polling stations are organized in a manner that would be comparable to Third World countries’ means and abilities.
Here we are with the whole world practically online yet we have to vote by standing in line for an hour, prove your identity and address at two different tables, take paper and pencil and place a black X against the candidate of your choice.
Why can’t polling be done online? Revenue Canada provides our names and addresses to the election authorities, surely they can design an online voting system tied to your Social Insurance Number and postal code. By providing you with a PIN either online or by mail, the person with that SIN number can only vote once and that would render the PIN number invalid soon after the vote. This way there cannot be duplicate votes.
Perhaps if voting was done online, more eligible people would vote.
It is high time to move on to other modern methods.
M. Hajee, Surrey
Discriminatory signs
I agree with A. Bayer’s recent letter about election signs that contain any other language than English or French. This should be a clear violation of election laws and is a blatant act of discrimination against all the other ethnic groups this fair country contains.
How dare these so-called candidates slap the rest of us in the face while they obviously pander to a certain group? Any so-called candidate that produced these signs should have to answer in a public forum as to why this was done. Then the rest of us could hear what their intentions are and make an informed decision whether or not they deserve to be in government or run out of town on a rail.
Robert Gary Parkes, Port Kells
