We Were so Close to Winning

Matt Peters and Ryna Boldt have an excellent piece in Rabble this week, reminding us of how close we came to holding Stephen Harper to a minority.

So what made this Harper majority? Time for some sobering statistics, you might want to prepare a barf bag: 6,201 -- Friends, this is not the title of the newest Rush album

This is a number we need to remember over the course of the next four years and especially during the next election: 6,201 is the COMBINED margin of victory across the 14 most closely contested Conservative ridings in Canada -- with 6,215 being the number needed -- as the total number of votes -- the nearest parties would require to have won these 14 seats but one vote.

The COMBINED margin of victory. This is how close the election actually was. In each of these races the Conservatives had a margin of victory of less than 800 votes. Most margins were much, much smaller

Strategic voting had a real chance, but was abandoned by many during the final days.

Now we have a Harper majority and the perfect storm, with a record deficit and a man at the helm who now has an excuse to dismantle our social safety net. And the Canada we once had will be no more.

I feel like Marlon Brando, in On the Waterfront:

We coulda had class. We coulda been a contender. We coulda been somebody ...

Has Jack Layton Created a Parking Lot in Quebec?

Jeffrey Simpson said recently, that "NDP support in Quebec is a mile wide, and an inch deep. It's not a political revolution, it's the NDP as a parking lot."

And I think he may be right. There was no big seismic shift in the province.

And federalism did not score a victory.

Several of the NDP's new Quebec MPs have expressed support for Quebec independence, putting the party on a collision course with an issue it may rather avoid: national unity. The party is celebrating its success in knocking out the Bloc Quebecois and bringing nationalist Quebecers back into the fold of national politics, following two decades of disengagement.

But the divergent leanings within the NDP caucus on such a fundamental issue raise questions about how Jack Layton plans to maintain peace within his own party, let alone the federation, when divisive issues inevitably pop up.

Simply stating that he will allow no separatist discussions, will not change fundamental beliefs.

In fact, according to Jean-Francois Lisee, the Bloc is experiencing a renewal. From Tuesday morning, the day after the election, to Friday midday, 450 people bought or renewed their memberships. A record. And not one person has asked to leave the party.

This will create quite a balancing act for the NDP, a federalist party.

And according to Peter White in the National Post, an opportunity for the Conservatives to cash in.

As a judicial recount in one of the Tories' six seats in Quebec threatens to bring their Quebec seat count down to a mere five, the Prime Minister must send a potent signal to reassure Quebecers that he understands and recognizes Quebec's importance within the federation and in his new government.

Mr. Harper also needs to reach out to the inner conservative that lies dormant in the hearts of most Quebecers. How to kill these two birds with one stone? Appoint Maxime Bernier as President of the Treasury Board.

I expect that Harper will bring all of his Quebec MPs into cabinet, making sure that any spending for the province goes through them.

Then come election time he'll try to push his way through the province.

However, if he eventually has to answer to all of the corruption, this will not sit will with Quebec, so the Bloc could return as strong as ever.

I just want to say something to NDP supporters. I read on twitter and other social media outlets, that you feel that your party is being treated unjustly now.

But you have to remember that as the official opposition you will be scrutinized much closer, so you'll have to develop a thick skin. Otherwise, the media will eat you alive.

I am still an NDP supporter as part of a progressive Canada. However, I feel that Canada has lost something now, with no centre, so I'll be pushing for a renewal of the Liberal brand, so that the Liberal/PCs have a place to call home.

My only beef with Jack Layton is that he teamed up with Harper to destroy other progressives, and he may pay for his misguided adventure. Let's hope his party doesn't.

My Stages of Grief Now Entering Phase Seven

They say that there are seven stages that a person goes through, when faced with devastating news, and the last election results couldn't be more devastating.

A healthy democracy has been diagnosed with a cancer, and despite glaring symptoms over the past five years, it is a cancer that has been left untreated.

1. SHOCK & DENIAL- You will probably react to learning of the loss with numbed disbelief.

This of course took place on election night when I learned that not only would Stephen Harper remain as prime minister, but that he now had a majority. A diagnosis that could be terminal for our country.

2. PAIN & GUILT- As the shock wears off, it is replaced with the suffering of unbelievable pain.

This took place the day after when I realized the implications of what a Conservative majority would mean to our country. Everything we fought so hard for the past four decades or so, will be surgically removed.

3. ANGER & BARGAINING- Frustration gives way to anger, and you may lash out and lay unwarranted blame for the death on someone else.

This I did, blaming the electoral system, the media, the pollsters and Jack Layton, and though all of the above were a factor, it is much more complicated than that.

4. "DEPRESSION", REFLECTION, LONELINESS- Just when your friends may think you should be getting on with your life, a long period of sad reflection will likely overtake you. This is a normal stage of grief, so do not be "talked out of it" by well-meaning outsiders. Encouragement from others is not helpful to you during this stage of grieving. During this time, you finally realize the true magnitude of your loss, and it depresses you.

I think that one will be with me for some time.

5. THE UPWARD TURN- As you start to adjust to life it becomes a little calmer and more organized. Your physical symptoms lessen, and your "depression" begins to lift slightly.

I've settled into the fact that Harper will be with us for at least four more years. Nothing I can do at this stage to change that.

6. RECONSTRUCTION & WORKING THROUGH- As you become more functional, your mind starts working again, and you will find yourself seeking realistic solutions to problems.

I experienced two revelations recently. One expressed by Paul Wells and James Laxer, that Stephen Harper and Jack Layton have been working together for several years to destroy the Liberals.

Sadly a lot of good people were caught in the crossfire, and MPs like Mark Holland, Glen Pearson and Gerard Kennedy, to name a few, will be a huge loss to the progressive movement.

And the second that this election was won by character assassination and dirty tricks.

7. ACCEPTANCE & HOPE- During this, the last of the seven stages in this grief model, you learn to accept and deal with the reality of your situation... You will start to look forward and actually plan things for the future.

A Progressive Canada will not die. We may take a sharp turn to the right, but I don't think it will change who we are, only the way we will be perceived by the rest of the world. But let's face it, that is already happening.

So I've swung into action. I've set up two new blog pages, to isolate the things I will be investigating. One, the fraudulent election. The other, Jack Layton's complicity in the success of Stephen Harper.

I'm sure he didn't expect it to end this way, but as my mother often said "you made your bed, now you must lie in it."

When I first posted my piece 'Will the Real Jack Layton Please Stand Up', I received numerous emails from people, most former NDPers, who said that they never liked the direction the party was headed under Layton. He put personal success and party fortunes, ahead of NDP values.

I have no desire to destroy the party, but if it's true, then we need to have all the facts before the next election. And I have four years to research and expose.

I believe that Canada needs a good party in the center, to ward off the excesses of the right and the left. And we need a strong right and left wing, to keep the centre focused on the needs of all Canadians.

The PC Party was destroyed, and we can't allow the same fate to kill off the Liberals. They have four years to regroup while the Conservatives and NDP will be in the spotlight, as we watch our social welfare system deconstruct.

Jack Layton will no longer be able to hide behind the Liberals, blaming them for Harper's actions. He will now be the one taking the heat.

Canada Inspires the World. To Walk Like "Sluts".

A Toronto police officer who remarked that if women stopped dressing like sluts they wouldn't be raped, has sparked a new movement called "Slut Walks".

An international series of protests known as SlutWalks, sparked by a Toronto police officer's flippant comment that women should avoid dressing like "sluts" to avoid being raped or victimized, is taking root in the United States.

SlutWalk protests take off in the US

The police officer made his comments in January to a group of York University students at a safety forum. He later apologised, but his comments were publicised widely on Facebook and Twitter. They inspired a march in Toronto last month that drew more than 3,000 people, as well as SlutWalks since then in Dallas, Asheville, North Carolina, and Ottawa, Ontario.

In addition to Boston, marches are planned in cities including Seattle, Chicago, Philadelphia, Reno, Nevada, and Austin, Texas. 'The event is in protest of a culture that we think is too permissive when it comes to rape and sexual assault,' said Siobhan Connors, 20, of Lynn, Massachusetts, another Boston organiser. 'It's to bring awareness to the shame and degradation women still face for expressing their sexuality ... essentially for behaving in a healthy and sexual way.'

We should be so proud.

And let's not forget the Harper appointed judge who let a rapist go free because he said that the victim dressed too sexy.

And another judge has opened the door to "being too drunk" as a defense agaisnt charges of sexual assault.

Women's loss of rights in Canada is being noticed. Just sadly, not in Canada.

So the Conservative Resource Group is Doing All Polling Now?

Has it puzzled anyone else, that the voice heard most often, and quoted the most by the media, is coming from a group called Ensight Canada?

Ensight is a spin-off of the Conservative Resource Group, the central PR hub of the Conservative Party of Canada.

How are we supposed to be believe a word they say? Put Harper on a short leash? We couldn't put him on a short leash when he had a minority. How in the hell do we leash him now?

Rick Dykstra says his government plans to render even the short form census useless, so I expect we'll have groups like Ensight telling us how we should feel or what we should do.

Canadians don't want public healthcare.

Canadians don't want peace.

Canadians are pleased that they are no longer respected on the world stage.

Canadians don't want action on climate change.

Obviously, they can make us believe anything, so give it time. Welcome to Tea Party Canada.