From Mark Steyn.

The Conservatives have won, though it looks like it will be a coalition government. And it looks like Belinda will keep her seat, so she may have some bargaining leverage to keep her cabinet post if she wants to ditch her new-found Liberal friends and become a Conservative again.

Also, this will give Alberta and Saskatchewan a lot more clout in Ottawa.

Unlike the US, where cabinet members may be from any party, in Canada the cabinet is chosen from the members of parliament that belong to the winning party. Belinda! won't keep her cabinet post. The Conservativees won't let her back into their party. They would make her sit as an independent for at least six months before they ever welcomed her back in, but after stabbing them in the back I can't see them ever letting her back into the party.

No big surprises here, really. A minority government means that the Conservatives will have to work with the Bloq Quebecois in order to govern (the NDP don't have enough seats to form a majority with the Conservatives, and the Liberals sure as hell won't cooperate). Harper has promised to deal with bills on a case-by-case basis rather than making a formal alliance, but it seems pretty certain that a lot of big bones are going to be thrown Quebec's way in the next year or two in order to get the Bloq's vote.

Incidentally, this is good for the Canadian aerospace industry since most aviation and space companies are headquartered in Quebec.

I didn't vote for the Conservatives, but they won a free and fair election, and now it's my duty to give them a fair chance to govern.

This spells the end of the already-desperate pretense that Canada will comply with its obligations under the Kyoto treaty, and also further reduces the chance of a successor to Kyoto being negotiated (since Canada would have to pay penalties under that successor for failure to comply to the first treaty.)

I didn't vote for the Conservatives, but they won a free and fair election, and now it's my duty to give them a fair chance to govern.

I think this may be one of the most important attitudes required to ensure a successful democracy. It also happens to be in short supply recently in the US (on both sides).

-S

I didn't vote for the Conservatives, but they won a free and fair election, and now it's my duty to give them a fair chance to govern.

James, in addition to the 5% beer, could you also export this attitude to your southern neighbors? ;-)

Canada: A large country located near Buffalo, New York.