Minority

“It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds.” - Samuel Adams

I tried to stay up until the bitter end last night so I could know if the Liberals had scored another majority government in the province or if Dalton McGuinty would be leading Ontario from a minority position. I woke up on the couch at 2 A.M. with a stiff neck and reruns playing on the screen so it wasn't until this morning that I saw he had missed his majority government by one seat.

I don't have a problem with minority governments. In fact, a well run minority government can get a lot accomplished for the electorate. In many ways, it forces the legislature to be more thoughtful about its actions.

The results of this election are only surprising in that just a couple short months ago, the polls indicated that we were more likely to elect a Conservative majority than a Liberal minority. The election was Tim Hudak's to lose. Mr. Hudak seems like a decent man to me but I don't believe that his campaign reflected anything much of what he stood for. Other than a misguided suggestion that we start chain-gangs in the Ontario prison system, Mr. Hudak never did tell us what he would do. The basis of his campaign seemed to be anti McGuinty and pro nothing - hardly a way to connect to the heart of voters. On the other hand, the Liberals ran a series of very clever commercials in which Mr. McGuinty acknowledged his lack of popularity in the province but listed his achievements in the last eight years and launched his plan for continuing to improve the lot of Ontarians.

There seems to be a lot of "anti fever" going around right now. I find it hard to work up any enthusiasm for it. Anti Wall Street protests which began in New York are spreading around the world and are poised to hit Toronto as anti Bay Street protests. I'd be a lot more prepared to consider supporting those actions if I heard from those groups what they stand for instead of just what they stand against.