What is up his sleeve?

I've proudly stood beside Michael Ignatieff since he became leader and supported his decisions. I always felt that, while I may not have agreed or understood all of them, they were all, clearly, for the greater good.

Now, I can feel myself starting to doubt him, which is worrisome. I wonder if he really is aiming for a resolution that will benefit his, and my party.

Now, don't get me wrong; I'm not buying into the media perspective that Michael ought to pack his bags and get ready to leave. I'm, instead, basing my perspective on the fact that he could have approached this whole kerfuffle in a different way and made himself look strong as a result. Instead, he puffed himself up and then backed off.

I really hope he has a plan for the fall, because I don't know where else to put my vote.

Let's bring 'er down!

While Michael Ignatieff spends the rest of today and part of tomorrow contemplating whether to put the Harper Government out of its misery or not, I'd like to add my voice to the vocal, but unfortunately small, group of people who want him to send Harper packing.

Far from selfish reasons, Ignatieff can cite everything from the fact that the Conservatives have not demonstrated that their stimulus money is getting out the door, to the Raitt affair, to the Conservative Party's generally abusive attitude toward anybody who crosses them. Fact is, Harper is a mean bully and it won't take long or much to convince Canadians that he doesn't deserve the honour of being their Prime Minister anymore.

To Mr. Ignatieff, bring 'er down!

NDP Majority Government

NDP: 31
Lib: 11
PC: 10

You don't really get more decisive then that, I suppose.

Nova Scotians voted for change tonight, and that change is coming from the New Democratic Party. I can't say I'm not disappointed, obviously, and I can't say that I don't feel wary about my province's future under the orange regime. However, he clearly wanted it more and so I congratulate him.

Beyond that, though, I'd say the Liberal Party also won a strong victory here, because, in his first campaign as leader, Stephen McNeil managed to take his party to Official Opposition status and, despite a clear wave of NDP support, he managed to keep all Liberal MLA's in place and pick up two new seats, one from the Conservatives and one from the NDP. For the first time in 6 years, Dartmouth is no longer 100% NDP orange. That's a victory right there.

In my own riding of Dartmouth North, the NDP's Trevor Zinck beat the Liberal candidate, Jim Smith. I worked hard for Jim and I'm sorry that he lost, but it was a fair battle and Trevor is a great guy and will, hopefully, be made a Minister in the new NDP Government; something he definitely deserves.

Overall, I'm upset, but not miserable by the results.

You have 4 years to make things right in Nova Scotia, Darrell; don't f*** it up!

My final thoughts before election day

I haven't posted here as much as I'd like to have, but rest assured that I've been keeping a very close eye on the election campaign and trying to make as unbiased a decision as possible. With the campaign nearly over, I thought I'd speak up and give my take on things before the vote.

Based on what I've seen, I've come to the conclusion that we're almost assured of an NDP minority Government. I've seen the public polls released by the CBC and I've seen several internal polls, including one out today from the Liberal Party whose results I'm not at liberty to share. However, suffice it to say that the NDP aren't in as good a position as they would have us believe. When the chips are counted, I think Nova Scotians are looking for change and it appears that change will be the New Democrats. However, I think there's enough caution in giving the NDP control that they will be given a very tentative minority.

That having been said, I will conclude with a few changes to the predictions I released earlier in the election:

Cape Breton West - I'd like to change my prediction to a Liberal pickup. Despite Rodney's home being in Cape Breton and Alfie being a prominent member of the Legislature, I think the PC's have fallen hard enough that this seat is turning red.

Dartmouth North - I've been going door to door in this riding and I've seen the reaction at the doors and heard the things people say. Jim has been a counted-on figure in Albro Lake-Harbourview and people like him and trust him. It'll be a close race, but I'd like to change my prediction to having Jim pick this seat up.

Dartmouth East - Joan Massey has been invisible versus a HIGHLY popular Councillor. Younger is a lock here.

Halifax Citadel - Sable Island - It's a bit more of a stretch then the other three above, but I genuinely feel the Liberal Party has been strong enough here that they stand a good chance of winning.

Overall, I see a huge shift for the Liberals. My final prediction is going to be:

NDP - 25
Liberal - 19
PC - 8

Take that for what you will.

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Burma: How can this even happen?

I've always prided myself on being "up" on world news. I've always tried to be aware of the what's, how's, why's, and where's of all the important things that have gone on in the world, so that I can live my life as knowledgable as possible. I've never claimed to know everything, but there's one thing that always confused me.

How can a think like Burma/Myanmar happen?

What I mean is how can a nation hold an election that results in a majority government for a specific party, completely disregard the results and lock up the party's leader for the last 19 years, and still be allowed to exist as a nation?

Maybe I'm missing something, but in the year 2009 how can it be possible that a country can keep the legitimate leader of a country locked up for nearly two decades and the world does nothing?

I'm never one to support unilateral occupation, but the US invaded Iraq on the suspicion of doing something wrong, yet Burma blatantly flaunts the fact that they are keeping the Prime Minister-elect of the country under house arrest, yet nothing is done. The UN does nothing, the US does nothing, the world does nothing.

Why?

I must be seriously missing something, because if Stephen Harper held an election where the Liberal Party won a majority government and he opted, rather than hand over power, to lock Michael Ignatieff in at Stornoway and arrest every Liberal MP, then Canada would likely erupt in revolution.

Can somebody please explain to me how this general gets away with doing what he's doing, and nobody does anything about it?

Seriously!

NS Liberal Party: The middle ground

I've tried, during this campaign, to view the options as unbiased as possible. After all, as mentioned in a previous post, I have respect for the NDP and their agenda, and consider one of their MLA's a personal friend. However, I made the choice to join the Liberal Party of Canada (and, by virtue of that, Nova Scotia) in 2006 and have not felt the urge to turn back since.

So, after having heard the rhetoric, read the platforms (the PC haven't released one yet as of this post, but they've let us know the just of what they'd do) and talked to several of the candidates around the HRM, I've come to the conclusion that the Liberal Party of Nova Scotia is indeed the party that presents the best choice for Nova Scotians. Now, granted it's not exactly earth-shattering that a Liberal blogger would endorse the Liberal Party, but consider that, despite my affiliation, I'm prepared to give people the benefit of the doubt in most cases. I'll temper my endorsement, in fact, by stating that the NDP likely won't do a horrible job, should they win government.

I say "should" rather than "when" because, despite my endorsement at the beginning of this thing, I still see this as a 3-way race. MacDonald hasn't done much to justify that, mind, but stranger things have happened before. My feeling is that, if he can convince Nova Scotians enough that the NDP bogeyman is too risky, he can bring enough wanderers back to the Tory camp to scratch out a bare minority government. It's unlikely, but possible.

On the other hand, Darrell Dexter and the NDP have the momentum here and so they seem most likely to hit the finish line in first place at this point. They've been pretty low-key so far, keeping their head down and riding the wave of PC resentment. It's worked for them so far, but it also leaves them open to being outdone.

So, what we have here are two parties whose main platform is built around, "We aren't the other guy." and I think this is a great advantage for Stephen McNeil and the Liberals. They've stayed mostly out of the back-and-forth and actually made their campaign about ideas and issues, rather than finger-pointing. They've made a point of running a positive campaign, refraining from any attack ads and haven't been afraid to put forward ideas that are new, different and, possibly, open to criticism. Instead of the "Risky NDP/Risky PC" games from the "frontrunners", Liberal ads focus on McNeil's smiling face and an actual plan for the province. That's why I believe the Liberal Party will become the Official Opposition after the smoke clears, perhaps even coming up the middle to manage a minority government; they've been the only party who has stood on its own, instead of basing itself around what the others are not. While the NDP and PC are playing games, the Liberals are talking about ideas. That's not to say that maybe there's some merit to the concerns about the NDP taking charge during these hard economic times (remember Ontario? [sorry, Bob!]).

To put it in one line: the Liberal Party is an option for those who are tired of the PC, but don't trust the NDP.