Catastrophe Averted

I am overjoyed and incredibly relieved that the Sherriff of Nottingham has soundly defeated the Wicked Witch of the West in BC’s “none of the above” Election today. Well, I suppose it is unfair for me to describe NDP Leader Carole James as a wicked witch. She more resembles a Jim Henson acid trip gone horribly awry, a bastard creation of the Master of Puppets abandoned on the casting couch of the Muppet Show. As much as I disapprove of Gordon Campbell, I revile the NDP’s Communist Manifesto that much more. The parliament will closely resemble the previous one, so it is not as though she has led to a collapse of NDP voting numbers; however she has failed to take advantage of a big opportunity. The incumbent government was presiding over an economic downturn, they were embarrassed by a number of unpaid traffic tickets from multiple candidates, and the premier himself had a DUI conviction. Furthermore, historical data proves that it is difficult for a government to win a third consecutive majority mandate. After extended time in power, voters tend to gravitate towards change.

This really was a failure by the NDP. Many British Columbians had a negative opinion of the Premier, but they also have displayed a noticeable disapproval of the Communist Muppet leading the NDP. Additionally I am very happy about the defeat of the BC-STV proportional representation system, simply put because it was mathematically flawed. I do support proportional representation in theory, but I struggle to conceive a method of assigning seats in parliament in our system of regional representation. The best I can conjure is to have a designated number of “wildcard seats” that are to be assigned to the candidates who had the best showing that skews seat counts closer to popular vote. For example if you were to add 15 seats to bump the total to 100. Tonight the greens won 8% of the popular vote, so they would get 8 wildcard seats for their most successful candidates, the BC Conservatives get 2 seats, and the NDP gets 5. Under those circumstances, the seat proportions would closely resemble popular vote. The only flaw with that system is that certain ridings get more representation in parliament than others, and this makes minority governments more likely. I think most Canadians are growing sick and tired of minority governments…

I am just thankful that the NDP lost. I was prepared to move to Alberta if the worst case scenario came true. This was not my ideal scenario, as I was already chased out of Ontario by Dalton “I will not raise your taxes” McGuinty. I did not want to have to pack my bags and emigrate again. I had my prayers answered! I even considered sacrificing a live chicken while rubbing a rabbit’s foot and eating a salad of four leaf clovers. I was prepared to do a ritual dance around a camp fire while consuming peyote and screaming to the heavens…if I were superstitious, which I am not. Instead, I wrote a few blog posts on the election, and while it likely had no measurable effect on how people voted, I can at least take some comfort that I tried to make a difference in the only way I know how.

“Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect.”

-Ralph Waldo Emerson