Wipeout

"Elections are won by men and women chiefly because most people vote against somebody rather than for somebody." - Franklin Pierce Adams

It was quite a night in Canadian politics last night. The decimation of the Liberal party. The resounding Conservative majority. The coming of age of the NDP. The disappearance of the Bloc Quebecois. The first Green seat for Elizabeth May. It made for great television. Unfortunately, life isn't a television show. I suspect we as a nation will pay dearly for what I believe was a vote against Michael Ignatieff and Gilles Duceppe. Not that I'm disappointed to see the demise of either party leader, but as a dyed in the wool Liberal, I'm in a bit of pain. We have four years to rebuild. I have no doubt we will but I'm wondering where the leadership will come from. I don't think Bob Rae will take over, though I would like to see that happen. Justin Trudeau is too young and too inexperienced. Gerard Kennedy and Ken Dryden didn't even keep their own seats. There is time to figure it out.

Jacob and Jonathan watched the results with me until Jacob was ready to drop and finally gave up to go to bed as he needed to be up early for work this morning. He was disappointed that the candidate of his choice in this, his first election, was defeated. He has a lot of elections ahead of him. He will pick some winners and some losers and in the final tally, hope there are more of the former than the latter.

In an effort to find the silver lining, I reminded myself that this is Canada where even our parties on the right and the left are pretty close to center and that while Stephen Harper was not my choice, he isn't the worst Prime Minster we have ever had. I'm going to fervently pray that he uses his majority government to lead Canada in a way that serves all our citizens.