Election Night in Canada

Well, the tallies are in, and the dust is beginning to settle. Many of those politically involved have not slept in a few days. Indeed, the dying days of a campaign are filled with stress, no matter what the polls say.

What Canadians said tonight, however, marks one of the most confusing outcomes I've ever seen. They elected a Harper minority; that much we can all agree on. They also elected a massive Liberal Opposition, not to mention a sizeable Bloc contingent and an enlarged NDP caucus. What it means though, is that Canadians made Stephen Harper Prime Minister, and then put in place an opposition that will likely prevent him from delivering on almost all of his promises. It certainly creates an interesting situation for him.

For Liberals, tonight was bittersweet. A campaign that had some people forecasting the Liberals being reduced to 60 seats didn't turn out all that badly. However, the Grits have to admit that the past few years were not kind to Canada's natural governing party. They went from a healthy majority to a minority, and now into Opposition. Paul Martin announced his retirement from politics, and will likely be remembered in only a slightly more favourable light than John Turner. Indeed, Martin had so much going for him. He was Canada's greatest Minister of Finance. His battle against the deficit is his greatest legacy to Canadians, who have the privilege of being part of a country with a vibrant culture, a strong social safety net, and being in the only country in the G8 with a solid record of budget surpluses.

Mr. Martin, however, decided to follow his principles. Some would say that sacrifice is a lonely path, and Paul Martin did sacrifice himself, to an extent. He fought long and hard to clear the name of the Liberal Party, which was dogged by scandals, and new ones, engineered though they were, popped up at inopportune times during the election campaign. Blow after blow landed on Mr. Martin, and in the end, it was impossible to defend against them all. So, Mr. Martin will walk off into the sunset of Canadian political history. If the right people write the books, Mr. Martin will be remembered as the man who made Canada the prosperous country that it is, as the man who fought to restore honesty and integrity to government in Canada, as the man who stood on principle for equal rights for all Canadians, regardless of his own personal convictions. His time in office might not have been long, and he failed to win a majority, but years from now, Mr. Martin's impact will still be felt by Canadians. Kim Campbell got it right when she said that Mr. Martin retired from politics with dignity and grace.

Mr. Harper has done better than he expected in Quebec, but aside from that, his campaign still failed to produce the results he had expected. Indeed, with his showing in Quebec, if the rest of his campaign had managed to produce, he would have won a majority. He did not. He will be faced by a Paliament that is incredibly hostile. His saving grace is that Canadians are election weary, and his opponents, just like him, are completely broke. Mr. Harper will be unable to implement his more controversial social and economic changes, and we will have to see how he manages it. The NDP will make things even more painful for him than they did for the Liberals. The Bloc is ideologically further left than the NDP, and let's face it, the Liberals aren't so fond of Mr. Harper either. If I were Stephen Harper, I wouldn't wish this mess on my worst enemy, and when the euphoria settles, and the new keys to 24 Sussex stop looking so shiny and pretty, Stephen Harper will still be stuck with a mess on his hands. I don't envy him one bit.