I was wrong with my predictions for a Liberal Minority, now that the votes have been counted. Dalton McGuinty and the Liberals won back-to-back majority victories, the first since 1937, with 71 of 107 seats. The Conservative leader, John Tory, lost his own seat and saw his party stay flat at 26 seats. The NDP and Howard Hampton are at 10 seats, just like before the election.
It would seem that voters, when confronted with the folded pieces of paper, decided that the status-quo was the safest route to take and marked their ballots appropriately. It was a bland, boring campaign that was utterly unmotivating.
The process of voting also took a shot: Only 52% of voters showed up. The previous low-water mark was 54%. A combination of the political handlers and the media succeeeded in demotivating the voters.
Interestingly, we had a referendum on the table for what is called MMP, or Mixed Member Proportional representation. It was blown out of the sky because nobody bothered to explain it to voters. Again, voters kept the status-quo.
The media is examining the runes and entrails to appear wise, while commentators and party wanks are spinning the results to find something, anything to be positive about. Truthfully, the Conservative Leader, John Tory, shot himself in the head backing away from full-funding for religious schools and handed the Liberals the cake.
Which means what? Nothing will change in Ontario. We’ll keep stumbling along. No great leaps forward and no falling over sideways either.
RoadDave 