Well, as I write this, most of the results are in for the federal election. There was no real surprise in the results. Stephen Harper will be the next Prime Minister with a minority government. It’s not a large minority, though, so things could be a bit dicey.
The polls going in suggested a larger minority, or possibly a slim majority. However, those numbers simply didn’t materialize. This is probably because many of the younger voters simply didn’t bother to vote. I know when I was under 25, I didn’t go out of my way to vote either. This is unfortunate, but it is the way of the world.
Even with the lower than expected numbers, there were encouraging signs. The Conservatives gained seats in Québec, which is significant. It doesn’t look amazing in the overall scheme of things, but it does mean that there is a possibility of more gains next election, whenever that ends up being. Also, we now have a Prime Minister who is not from Québec, which should be a benefit for the rest of Canada. Hopefully, Harper will have enough of a chance to prove himself in the minority government and these gains will grow next time.
Now I’m going to go out on a limb and make a prediction about when the next election will be. I think we’ll survive 2006. In early 2007, the opposition parties will trump up an issue and they government will be defeated on the 2007 budget. My prediction is that we will have an election in May or June of 2007. My reason for saying that we will survive 2006 is that whichever party spearheads the downfall of the Conservatives will not gain any good will from Canadians. We don’t want another quick election, dammit.
Now that I’ve made my prediction, we’ll see how it stands. I would be happy to be wrong and see the government survive longer. However, it is a minority.