As for the other parties, the NDP can take solace in having exceeded expectations, but little else: though they emerged as “winners” from the campaign, they took fewer seats and a smaller share of the vote than in the “defeat” of 2015. The Greens, conversely, will be disappointed they did not take more seats, given the momentum with which they entered the campaign. But they doubled their previous best performance in terms of the popular vote, and tripled their seat count to 3, but we might also see a call for a change of leadership for the Greens also. The most unambiguous winners were the Bloc, who like the NDP had been all but given up for dead before the election. They have returned as a force in Parliament, with their best performance in more than a decade, which says a lot about the leadership of Yves-François Blanchet. With the resurgence of the Bloc, and the pipeline- ambiguous Liberals returned to power with three parties to their left pushing themtoblockall further pipeline construction and the Conservatives to the so called right wanting these energy projects to move forward as the Western Provinces, primarily Alberta and Saskatchewan, where the Liberals won only three seats, start to show that they are willing to dig in against Ottawa and fight for a better transfer agreement with even some calling for a possible “Wexit” just being what is need to push the Liberals and Conservatives closer than ever. All we know is that the next eighteen to twenty four months are going to be interesting and given the current political landscape we might not see anything happen for a full four years, but time will tell and of course a move in the popularity polls can also change that in a hurry.
Trudeau is not in this alone as Sheer would also have to acknowledge that 65.6 percent of the popular vote is looking for a stronger stance on climate change, not just the 5,915,950 voters representing 33.1 percent of the popular vote in Canada that was secured by the Liberals. But also the 2,849,214 votes or 15.9 percent of the popular vote that went for the NDP, the 1,376,135 votes or 7.7 percent of the popular vote for the Bloc Québécois, the 1,162,361 votes or 6.5 percent of the popular vote for the Greens, the 292,703 votes or 1.6 percent of the popular vote for the People’s Party and the 71,854 votes or 0.4 percent of the popular votes for Independents and last but not least the 18,816 votes or 0.1 percent of the popular vote that went to the Christian Heritage Party. Scheer was quick to say that “Conservatives have put Justin Trudeau on notice,” but he should also realize now the voters endorsed parties that support a carbon tax, which Scheer said he would scrap, so the Conservatives have also been put on notice.
There was also more than just a geographic division in the votes, the Conservatives find themselves equally blocked in their ability to appeal to younger voters, to the university- educated, to women. The climate change debate is just one example of an issue where the party has passed on a chance to expand its base in favour of appealing to its existing supporters. This was a winnable election for the Conservatives, with a battered leader in Justin Trudeau and a divided left. The fact the Conservatives did not get a minority will start the calls that there should be a change in leadership for the Conservatives and more importantly prompt calls for a change of approach with voters. Yes, people can say that votes going to go the People’s Party took away from the Conservatives, but they still would have been short of the approximately 40 percent of the popular vote needed to form a majority government.
45
44
NOVEMBER 2019 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • NOVEMBER 2019
Made with FlippingBook Online document