Democracy!
The results are more or less in, with a tight race. The first thing I noticed was what would have happened if we already had BC-STV in place. Balanced government. True story. Have a look at the numbers.
But that’s beside the point. The Liberals are back in albeit with serious inroads by the NDP, which, after all is said and done, is just how I like it. The Liberals have another term in which to prove their way is the golden path. They will make amends for slashing social programs and public employee positions by investing in education and health care. Campbell repeated this over and over this evening so we shall see. He should definitely be seriously alarmed at the election results, and maybe he will take warning.
How could he not, with the NDP sitting right there in front of him almost seat for seat?
I’m looking forward to this term. Should be exciting.
Incidentally, I note that the campaigns this time have largely been concerned with issues, rather than personal attacks. The Liberals certainly dropped the ball late in the game when they started taking stupid cheap shots but for the most part the race was fought over issues. And I have to wonder if the large voter turnout (the largest ever) is just coincidence. Do you think people might respond favourably to a clean campaign rather than mudslinging? There’s a thesis in there for sure.
On the down side it looks like the BC-STV vote came up torturously short, 57% of a required 60% majority. Here’s the story. That sucks. I blame the ignorant, frankly. As I said I really do think anyone who took the time to learn anything more than a sound-bite on it couldn’t help but vote favourably. I sincerley hope we get another chance to vote on this once penetration is a little better.
Well then. It’s past my bed time. Here’s looking forward.
listening – ariz0na & braeden – aurium
See… that was my hugest complaint about this election– I didn’t feel that many issues were addressed adequately. The whole thing seemed like a mudslinging match:
NDP: “The Liberals ruined BC!!”
LIBERALS: “Remember when we recently took over from the NDP? They were ruining the province then!”
I found this whole election to be tedious and vapid.
On a positive note, one good thing about keeping the same party in power is that– historically– whenever we switch governments it costs an insane amount of money, because the new government always flushes out the previous party’s efforts. There’s something to be said for building on momentum instead of starting from scratch.
But yeah… other than that, blah.
COMMENT:
Regardless of who won, left or right wing, I think we ended up with a MUCH better mix of power! ANY party, be them green, blue, red or whatever, without an opposition has the potential to do too much harm.
Did you find a link to a “What if STV was in place last night” site Adrian? I’ve been scouring online without success…
hee hee
you said ‘penetration’!