Initially published in the Alliston Herald on October 17, 2008
Some random post-election thoughts of winners and losers, the good, the bad and the ugly:
Loser No. 1: Canadian taxpayers
The price tag for this election, which was not supposed to happen given the fixed election legislation, will ultimately cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.
Loser No. 2: Stephane Dion
Dion clearly failed to inspire. The result is reflected in the worst Liberal performance (in terms of popular vote) since Confederation. I do feel bad for the guy. He apparently has several hundred thousand dollars of debt outstanding from his leadership campaign. If he doesn't leave voluntarily then one can expect the knives to come out in short order. However, I doubt Dion will even consider exiting voluntarily unless some "deal" is offered to assist with the debt.
Winner No. 1: Helena Guergis
One cannot argue with results and, whichever way you look at it, 55 per cent with an 18,000+ vote plurality is an excellent result.
The Bad: While Guergis' total vote percentage settled in at the aforementioned 55 per cent (up from 49.9 per cent in 2006), the 5.1 per cent increase was by far the lowest among Conservative incumbents in the area. Patrick Brown (Barrie) and Tony Clement (Parry Sound) each increased their percentage share of the vote by more than 10 per cent. Bruce Stanton (Simcoe North) and Peter Van Loan (York-Simcoe) hovered around nine per cent increases.
Winner No. 2: Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams
This Progressive Conservative Premier embarked with a vengeance on an "Anybody But Conservative" campaign and merrily quoted from Harper campaign literature ("There is no greater fraud than a promise not kept") at every opportunity! Newfoundland listened and shut out the Conservative Party. In the process, Williams established himself as a formidable foe and a dominant voice in Atlantic Canada.
Loser No. 3: Stephen Harper
Stephen Harper called this election in order to attain a majority. He did not achieve his objective.
The Ugly: Typically, a winning candidate will congratulate and commend his/her opponents. Ms. Guergis took a different approach. In an election night interview she accused unnamed candidates of a "smear campaign". When asked for particulars she refused to elaborate.
The Ugly - Part Deux: The Simcoe-Grey Liberal vote has plummeted from 40 per cent (2004) to 31 per cent (2006) to 21 per cent in spite of a conservative candidate who has experienced no end of fumbles and criticism as a junior cabinet minister.
Quasi Winner: The Green Party (local)
The Green Party's share of the vote in this electoral district has steadily increased each election. The l0 per cent this time around represents a significantly better performance than the 6.8 per cent polled by the Green Party across Canada.
The Ugly - Part Trois: In the course of the campaign Wasaga Beach resident Mary Jane Vaughan wrote two letters to the editor of the Alliston Herald. The letters were so effusive in their praise of Guergis that one may have mistaken Vaughan's words for a prayer! Vaughan really ought to have disclosed that she is a board member of Guergis' constituency association.
The Good: The Conservative Organizational effort
Elections Canada statistics reflect that more than 8,500 Simcoe-Grey residents took advantage of the advance polls. This placed Simcoe-Grey among the top 10 electoral districts in all of Canada in terms of number of advance voters and speaks volumes of the Conservative organizational effort to get out the vote.
The Ugly - Part Quatre: At the Collingwood debate Green Party candidate Peter Ellis referred to Guergis' pending marriage to (former) Alberta Conservative MP Rahim Jaffer and posed a rhetorical question as to where Guergis would ultimately reside. The comment, and the arguably sexist innuendo associated with it, was not appropriate and did not reflect well on the local Green Party effort. We have made great strides from the days when some grumbled they would not vote for Joe Clark because he could not "make" his spouse, Maureen McTeer, take his surname. Comments such as these, which were raised again in at least one letter to the editor, only represent a step backwards.
