Thursday, October 11, 2007

Election Results

I won't try to hide the fact that I'm super happy about last nights results. We all know that I am a strong provincial liberal. Heck, I even had a lawn sign and donated to the local guys campaign. It was also the first election in the last 10 years that I didn't actively campaign due to time constraints. That being said, I was hitting refresh all night last night to see how Steve Jolly was fairing in Bruce. It would have been great if he had one there.

Anywho, to follow up on what we were discussing yesterday on Jen's blog re: MMP, this is from the globe and mail website today. The election results if we had MMP.

Projected election results using MMP system
The mixed-member proportional system that Ontario voters appeared to reject yesterday aimed to have representation more closely mirror the popular vote.
These would have been the seat totals if yesterday's election had been run using MMP, according to numbers available at press time. (The numbers skew slightly: the Liberals would still be over-represented, as they would have taken more riding seats than their total proportion would allow for.)
Liberals
Percentage of popular vote: 42.0
Seats under current system: 71
Riding seats under MMP: 60
Total seats under MMP: 60
Progressive Conservatives
Percentage of popular vote: 31.7
Seats under current system: 25
Riding seats under MMP: 21
Total seats under MMP: 39
NDP
Percentage of popular vote: 16.8
Seats under current system: 11
Riding seats under MMP: 9
Total seats under MMP: 20
Green Party
Percentage of popular vote: 8.2
Seats under current system: 0
Riding seats under MMP: 0
Total seats under MMP: 10



Based on my own calculations, if it was a true hybrid between old and new, it would have been 60+16 = 76 to liberals which would have still been a majority. This system I would support hands down. Heck, it was the system I was planning on voting yes to until about 12 yesterday afternoon until I realized that I didn't understand the system properly. I love the green party. I have signed several petitions to allow them in the debates. I think if I were to protest vote against the liberals today I would park my vote with the greens. That said, I am VERY nervous about the prospect of having 10 MPPs appointed to parliament from a party that has never won a seat in the house. I would have been happy to have them have 3 seats in which they could prove themselves over 4 years to gain more support.

10 comments:

C-dub said...

Ya, I think more people would have supported MMP if it was the 39 seats split using the popular vote, regardless of how many local members each party got. That would have been a much better alternative and I think that would have had a better chance of being accepted.

BrightDolphin said...

I'm confused by one thing, where does 76 for the liberals come from with MMP? You have 60 + 16, but where does the 16 come from? I'm just curious. :)

I'm neither pleased nor displeased with the election results. I voted for the party I felt most comfortable with (or maybe least uncomfortable with) so whether it made a difference or not... who knows, but I guess they all add up!

lj said...

My 76 comes from the way I thought it was going to be calculated until noon yesterday. that the 39 seats would be divided based on popular vote only. So the liberals had 42% of the popular vote 42%*39 = 16. Mind you, liberals ended up with 71 I think, so the numbers in the globe and mail article were a little premature before the vote counting was complete.

Funny story. My first election that I was involved with was the 1999 election. We were at the liberal party when CBC declared the riding won by the incumbant PC member. It was all very depressing and we went home all sad and everything. Woke up the next morning to find out that our candidate actually ended up winning but less than 100 votes. His nickname until now (he retired at this election) has been "landslide parsons". In 2003 he won with over 50% of the votes in our riding.

BrightDolphin said...

Ahh, ok. I get it. :)

That is pretty funny. I thought it was funny that CTV announced a Liberal majority at 9:10 p.m.! A little premature, and based purely on surveys no doubt. It would have been really funny if they had been wrong though.

I live in a converted Liberal riding. They were always PC until Tony Clement. I think he ruined Brampton for all future PC candidates! LOL

Anonymous said...

I believe that one of the reasons why Green doesn't have any MPPs or MPs is attributed to the fact that they have never been allowed to participate in any of the televised debates. We just might see some (green) elected representatives when/if that is to change. Wouldn't that make life interesting.

Although Shane Jolley lost in his riding - I am quite pleased with the amount of support he received. It's actually amazing. Next time (hopefully).

In general, the election results were what I had expected. I was very annoyed during the entire campaign (thanks to John Tory) because the media focused on the faith-based funding debate almost the entire way through. Some very important issues were ignored as a result of this frenzy. It was a very dissatisfying campaign for me.

My aunt told me that the UK (and many other european countries) really look down upon Canada because we are so far behind in our environmental policies. It's such a shame. And embarassing.

lj said...

My home riding kind of bounces. We are usually a swing riding and were actually listed as one to watch in the last federal election. most of the times in the last 100 years, we vote for the party that gets power (with a few slim wins where we don't go with the tide) (ex. when the liberals one in 1999).

Now, Woodstock? That is another story. I live in the bible belt of ontario and as far as I can tell the only time they've had a liberal in recent years (like last 40 or so) both federally and provincially was in 1993.

lj said...

I agree with you on every point blythe :)

I wish Canada would get with the environmental program. We have been making some slow advances in certain areas, but we really need to get going on somethings (like the coal fired power plants)

Anonymous said...

*sigh* yeah, it's so frustrating.

Anyhow, I'm done with the political babble. Check out the cute chinchilla picture on my blog! :) Too cute.

C-dub said...

Well there's something we all have in common (which isn't surprising). We all think the government should make the environment a priority. I mean, if we destroy the planet we live on, nothing else really matters, does it?!?

BrightDolphin said...

Lj, do you think we're going to have a Federal election after tonight? :)