Congratulations to Elizabeth May, Canada's first Green MP

Elizabeth May, the leader of the Canadian Greens has won their first ever Parliamentary seat defeating a long-standing cabinet minister.

Having run an innovative campaign, including a series of attack ads against attack ads, and running a ruthlessly targeted strategy. May won an incredible 47% of the vote beating her opponent by a full 13%.

Accepting victory she said "I stand here today as the first elected Green member of Parliament in Canadian history... I remain committed, as I've been throughout this campaign, to rejecting the politics of cynicism of fear, to embracing hope and to bringing respect back to our House of Commons."

It was a night of decapitations as Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff and Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe both lost their seats. In fact the Liberals lost half their seats and Bloc Quebecois were obliterated going from 49 seats t the last election to just four.

The headline of the  night, of course, is that the Conservatives won an overall majority and it was a historic night for the centre left New Democratic Party which won 103 seats and over 30% of the vote despite never having had more than 43 seats since it started running in elections from 1962.


So, although not quite good news all round, there will be at least three sets of party faithful quaffing champagne until the early hours and beyond - best wishes and love to the Green Party who've had a long hard struggle to get their under First Past the Post.

Update: thought people would like to see the percentages and seats (this is all conducted under First Past the Post). Another good argument for proportional representation (from here);

A couple more international broadcasts

The Irish and German broadcasts made me wonder about other Green election material from round the world. I've found these two from New Zealand and Canada, again both strong broadcasts that are very different from each other. Obviously these aren't for the European elections!

First from Canada;



And from New Zealand;

Police search Conservative Headquarters

Police assisted election officials to search a Conservative headquarters today and left with a "box of documents". A Conservative spokesman confirmed this saying that it was "in relation to the issue of the campaign financing questions and our approach on spending."

The searches relate to millions that were transfered from Party headquarters to regional offices, and it is suspected that this was done in order to step around regulations on maximum spending on election campaigns.

Those damn Canadian Conservatives. Tut.

Praise Canada

Great story in the Guardian the other day about how wonderful Canada is compared to the slime ridden crime fest that is modern Britain (apparently). Not only do they drink a thing called a "carrot, apple and ginger smoothie", whatever that might be, they also really appreciate the police.

The Guardian followed a pair of British cops plodding the mean streets of Calgary. "All morning there had been no crimes to foil - though one man did ask for directions - but the pair seemed blissfully happy, not to mention well-loved." (my emphasis) I love that but . Not once did they have to deal with a drugged up arsehole or a granny who'd been beaten to pulp but somehow they still remained chipper strolling the gold paved streets of Calgary... I couldn't help but titter at the weird world the journalist is trying to conjure up there with their but.

We're told it's an ideal place for serving cops to emigrate to and by the end of 2008 "nearly 10% of Calgary's entire force will be British." Why is this? Well, an ex-Brit cop tells us that "No joke, around 10-15 times a day, a member of the public comes up to me and tells me what a good job I'm doing," said Locke. "In 14 years working for the Met, I think that happened twice."

However, I think the clue to their pleasant working conditions lies outside of the ruthless efficiency of the Canadian police force, no disrespect. Canada has "virtually zero unemployment and a rapidly ageing indigenous population of just over three million... Plus the education system is good, there is free health care for all, and the job market is so competitive that wages are high."" Ahhhh, now I'm beginning to see why there are "no crimes to foil".

All those people who are thanking their local bobby should be thanking the economy and the Social Democratic orientation of the Canadian political system. The fact is social problems require social solutions. Whilst the quality of life in Canada is that much higher than in the majority of the world (although the article rather over eggs the pudding I suspect) crime will be lower, crack downs and repressive legislation have nothing to do with it.