Tuesday, March 27, 2007

The Cost of Victory

A week before the Quebec election, Prime Minister Stephen Harper poured $3 billion into La Belle Province.

The PM says he did this to end the "fiscal imbalance" but many believe the real goal was to help Jean Charest's Liberals defeat the nasty separatists.

And if that was his goal, it worked --- the $3 billion ensured Charest won 48 seats, which works out to about $63 million per seat.

Good thing, Harper wasn't aiming for a Liberal majority -- that might have bankrupted the country.

Oh and please note, all you folks who think the Green movement is about to reshape our political culture.

The Quebec Green Party won a paltry four percent of the popular vote and no seats, in one of the most pro-environment province's in the country.

Watch for their federal cousins to suffer the same fate in the next national election.

Update:

I modified this posting into a Letter to the Editor, which is published in today's National Post.

4 comments:

Brian said...

I have been saying the same about the green party for ages. They threw everything they had at the London by-election: The highest profile candidate, piles of money, they went fishing for people to come to the riding to work for the good of the party, they even had billets for those who were coming from out of town and wanted to stay.(I know, I'm on there email list). They came away with bubkis.

yet based on that result, they have momentum.

Kerry said...

If the Green Party actually manages an entire four per cent of the next federal vote I will personally feel as though I've failed as a human being.

Ditto if Elizabeth May doesn't come in at least third against Peter MacKay.

Kerry said...

And by that I mean "may the Green Party experience real defeat."

Monkey Loves to Fight said...

Green Party I think has lots of people who like the ideas as well as attracts many voters dissatisfied with the other parties, but at the end of the day, since they cannot win any seats, many Green voters vote for their second rather than first choice.