The results are in...

It's a Liberal minority government.

I've been doing some research tonight about what the new face of Canadian politics is going to look like.

The Liberals won 135 seats, which is 44% of the House of Commons.

The Conservatives didn't get the seats they needed, taking only 99 ridings (32%).

The Bloc Quebecois didn't sweep Quebec, but did gain seats. They've got 18% of the House (54 seats).

Jack Layton doubled his popular vote and his seat count, getting 19 seats and 15.7% of the votes.

With all this talk of a minority government, PM Paul Martin (PM PM? Whoa.) might think about forming a coalition with another party.

The Liberals wouldn't group up with the Bloc, since that would alienate every non-Quebecer.

IF they had an understanding with the New Democrats, which is conceivable, they'd get 154 seats between the two parties.

Um, hold up a sec... There's 308 seats. EXACTLY 50 per cent! So there's no way any NDP/Lib coalition would be able to hammer things through.

It'd always be a stalemate if all the others voted against the coalition.

There's one independent sitting in the House. Chuck Cadman, of Surrey, B.C. But he's a former Reformer. He'd be PRETTY right-wing to be sitting amongst the centrist Libs and the left-wing Deeps.

They'd have to offer him some major bonuses if they want him on their side...

Could make for an interesting government. I wonder if they'll stay around longer than Joe Clark in 1978. He only lasted seven months before the rest of Parliament defeated a legislation the Tories tried to pass through, and made the government collapse due to a vote of non-confidence.

* * *

I voted NDP this year, but it didn't help too much. Rahim Jaffer won my riding again, making it his third term in office.

The NDP got a pretty good chunk of the votes, however. Malcolm Azania garnered 24% of the votes. Third to Jaffer (39%) and Debby Carlson, the Liberal candidate (29%).

I didn't vote in the last election due to only being an Alberta citizen for two months at that point. I didn't know the issues or the platforms real well, so I abstained from voting.

Back in 1997, I voted for Palliser (Moose Jaw/Regina)'s Reform candidate, as she was the only person who was actually from Moose Jaw.

As it was, I wasn't too disappointed, becuase NDP Dick Proctor was voted in instead.

Not so this time. He lost the riding today by a measly 124 votes to the Conservative candidate.

* * *

Okay, time for bed. Too much analysis makes Jago sleepy.