EDITORIAL: It’s not exactly sunny ways but Canadians have spoken
(Image: Screenshot)
An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.
WASN’T THAT FUN? Five weeks and $610 million dollars later, we’re right where we started.
Numbers will change as vote counts are finalized but Parliament will look little different than it did before Justin Trudeau called the election.
The Liberals and Conservatives have about the same number of seats as before. The Conservatives have again won the popular vote but lost the war.
Trudeau will again be prime minister. And, again, he’ll have to work with the NDP to keep the wheels of government turning.
Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo will continue to be represented by a Conservative. No insult to Frank Caputo, and congratulations to him, but the Tories could have run the proverbial fence post with hair and won handily — the riding has been solid blue since it turfed the NDP 20 years ago.
The most interesting results come at the other end of the political spectrum where the Greens still have a couple of seats but have lost much of their base and will be looking for a new leader. The People’s Party of Canada, however, increased its popular vote despite winning no seats, and is poised to become a factor in Canadian politics.
A side note: if the election had been held using proportional representation, the PPC would have elected several Members of Parliament. Ponder that one.
Armchair experts will be shaking their heads, lamenting the future of the country and reminding us about Trudeau’s scandals and missteps and how he should never have called the election. To be sure, it was exactly what everyone said it was — an election about nothing.
But that’s yesterday’s news. Time to forget the insults and heated rhetoric, though Erin O’Toole gave no hint of that in his ungracious concession speech.
Today, we start over. The job remains as it was — beat the pandemic, fight climate change, work on reconciliation, bring back the economy and get the deficit down to zero.
It’s not sunny ways but it’s what we’ve got.
I’m Mel Rothenburger, the Armchair Mayor.
Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and a retired newspaper editor. He is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
The fact that nothing has changed may be taken as a confirmation that nothing NEEDS to be changed, and that in itself is a valid and valued element of elections. The money was not wasted, as all of it went to Canadian consumers and corporations that employ Canadians. Perhaps not crucial, but surely indicative and confirming of a clear view of our nation as needing electoral reform based on proportional representation……..which is essentially what a minority government is….We need to make our parliament really represent our populace…
The PPC has coalesced scattered anger against perceived government tyranny mostly over the COVID-19 protocols. Thanks to social media ignorance can easily spread and find sympathy along the way. Is that leadership material?