Svend gets Fryed

(CP Photo/Chuck Stoody)

I guess you could say Hedy pocketed the riding. Svent him packing and whatnot. She remains a true giant killer, after entering the riding unseating Prime Minister Kim Campbell and now 25 year MP Svend Robinson. In other Vancouver ridings, the NDP won in Vancouver-Libby. Sorry, Vancouver-East. I wish I lived in a riding where the person I voted for, no matter what was going on in Ottawa, won every time. Actually, Vancouver didn't change at all. Stephen Owen held on to Quadra and former NDP Premier Dosanjh held onto VanSouth. The North Shore went Liberal. I guess the only changes happened in the suburbs where Penny Priddy won, after an endorsement from Chuck Cadman's widow. The only change came in New Westminster-Coquitlam as former MP Dawn Black knocked off long running con man Paul Forseth. Things go from blue state to red state as soon as you get farther from Vancouver where the conservatives routed all opponents easily. The Greens however didn't do too badly in those ridings, perhaps reflecting the futility of voting strategically, they could actually vote how they wanted to.

Okay, okay. So let's just try and find a silver lining to this dark brooding cloud. First, the NDP gained 10 seats. They will fight for health care and the environment. They will fight to prevent us from going to Iraq, and they will protect marriage for all. Second, the conservatives have long talked about "cleaning up" the system. If that includes fixing the electoral system, then I'm sure the NDP would agree, after all it was the NDP who got 17% of the vote and 29 seats while the block got 10% of the vote and 51 seats. I'm sure the "west"centric Neocons will agree that BC and Alberta should have the same PROPORTION as the rest of Canada. Thirdly, Paul Martin has stepped down. This could leave a bitter fight for leader, and the party could in fact shift to the left. With the sponsorship scandal now cleanly in the past, the new candidate (McKenna? Manley? Ignatieff? Goodale?) could finally get on with real policies. Then what would the Cons run on? Would they try and dig up the ghost of Gomery? And who knows when that election will be. Another 18 months some say. Will voters have the stamina? Speaking of voters, another piece of good news is that turnout was up from 2004. The Greens didn't elect an MP, but maybe the words of my girlfriend Sarah will ring profound: "Fuck It, I'm just going to vote green from now on" after realising that Svend Robinson had lost by a substantial margin.

Well, I better get my protest shoes on. Egale has already fired off a Stop Harper campaign. And with the BC Lieberals, the NPA, and now the NeoCons controlling all three levels of government, I'll be a busy bee. Stop Campbell! Stop Sullivan! Stop Harper! Shit I should just get a dry erase board.