Head Tale

Usually after an election, there are articles and blog posts about “winners and losers”.

But after last night, I feel like we have the rare situation where every party could arguably be said to be both a big winner and a big loser in some very definitive ways.

Liberals
Won: The election obviously
Lost: But dropped to a minority parliament situation

Conservatives
Won: The popular vote The most votes of any party including the Liberals and gained a number of seats
Lost: But couldn’t defeat a vulnerable PM, still had 66% of the country voting for other parties and couldn’t make a breakthrough in Quebec or Ontario in any serious way

NDP
Lost: A number of seats that they held at dissolution
Won: But may end up with more power now by holding the balance of power in a minority parliament

Green
Won: One more seat than they had at dissolution including a huge breakthrough in Fredericton, their first seat outside of BC.
Lost: But didn’t have any other breakthroughs or win more seats (especially in BC/on Vancouver Island)

Bloc
Won: Back from the dead going from 10 seats to 32
Lost: But they’re the Bloc.  They have no real purpose in a national government and unfairly benefit with a hugely inflated seat count by having their votes concentrated in a single province.  They are a big contributor to western alienation and separatist sentiment in the west and arguably one of the worst things for national unity not named “Trudeau” in this election.

People’s Party
Won: Bernier created a new party, basically from scratch, and may now have a base for future growth.
Lost: But Bernier didn’t even win his own seat (thanks Rhino Party?) when many expected the PPC to vote split the right. But they didn’t even break 2% support across the country so how much room is there for a far-right, libertarian-tinged party in Canada?

Canadians
Won: Minority governments have the potential to be the most productive and force parties to work together in ways they wouldn’t normally for the benefit of all Canadians.
Lost: But it feels like western alienation is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.  Trudeau’s name alone is a swear word in much of the Prairies and his perceived (real?) arrogance won’t help unless he can quickly develop some true (faked?) humility – not his strong suit from what I’ve seen.