New hope?

Turns out I may actually be qualified to run in the next federal election. If a young bartender can become an elected MP, without ever having stepped foot in her riding or participating in her campaign, then surely I’ve got a shot at something right?

Last night’s federal election results left me scratching my head more than a few times. To be perfectly honest, this was the first time that I have ever voted with a bad feeling in my gut. I didn’t have a favourite candidate. Rather than asking myself, “who will do a good job running this country?” I found myself asking the question, “Who is less likely to $%&* up the country?” I wasn’t feeling overly inspired – that is a horrible way to feel when exercising your civic duty, a right that we are fortunate and privileged to have.

I am happy that we have a majority government again. It is difficult working in GOC Communications when you never know when the next election might be called. Trying to align priorities and business models to an unstable minority government is a challenge at the best of times. I feel like the country will at least have some sort of direction now – more of sense of “getting on with business” rather than just “existing.”

While I am not an NDP supporter, I will admit that I was very happy to see a federalist party wipe out the separatist Bloc in Quebec. I guess even Quebecers are growing tired of the sovereignty issue and the same empty platform – they are waking up are realizing that there are far more pressing issues facing their province and the nation as a whole. However, I am not surprised that they would opt for a left-leaning party. One look at France and you will see a long-standing socialist tradition and sentiment. It will be interesting to see how the NDP will respond to the province, especially as a good chunk of elected Mps within the province don’t even speak French.

It will be an interested four years. I’m not entirely convinced that the NDP will be the “dream team” Official Opposition that folks are making them out to be. While I don’t doubt the leadership skills of Mr. Layton, I’ll be curious to see whether his relatively young and un-experienced colleagues will bring any value to the table. Either way, it seems the Canadian public was in need of some form of shake-up. The city of Ottawa just got a little more interesting.