Election round-up.

Well it's a Conservative minority. Can't say it's the result I was looking for, but there you have it. Obviously in my ideal world it would be an NDP majority, but that's not going to happen any time soon. That said, they did gain 12 or 13 seats since the last election, which I'm quite pleased with.

I'd like to see some election reforms involving a more propotional representation. I'm not entirely sure how this would work, but it just seems unfair as it stands. For example, the Bloc Quebecois won 51 seats (all in Quebec, they don't have candidates anywhere else) but only got 10.5% of the popular vote. The NDP only got 29 seats, but 17.5% of the vote. As well, although the Green Party didn't have any members elected, they still managed 5% of the vote. Surely that should stand for something.

One comforting thought came as I was watching some coverage via the CPAC live stream late last night (or early this morning depending how you look at it) when a caller phoned in and pointed out that the Conservatives are going to have to tread lightly if they want to retain power. Getting the budget passed is almost always the first confidence vote, and if they can't do that then there's going to be another election. Now, I doubt this will happen, but it will mean that they won't be as radical as they would have been with a majority government.

I'll be interested to see whether Harper really follows through on his promise to cut the GST. I don't like paying taxes any more than the next guy but I'm also afraid that getting rid of it would really hurt our social programs. That said, this was a big promise he made during his campaign, and if he doesn't follow through it will reflect poorly on his character.

I watched Paul Martin's concession speech as I ate my breakfast this morning and saw that he will be stepping down as party leader. I think this is a good move for the liberals. What they need now is a new Pierre Trudeau to take the reigns of the party and steer it back into a majority government. Now, like I said, obviously I'd prefer an NDP majority, but I know that's unlikely in the near future. At least the Liberals are further left than the Conservatives and with a majority they could actually make stuff happen.

Well, that's all the insight I have for now. Join us next week when our guest will be...oh...wait, this isn't actually my own talkshow, is it?