The Majority of Canadians Are About to Get What They Asked For

Here we have it. The long dreaded/anticipated Conservative majority. Canadians have gone to the polls and given Harper the mandate that he so desperately wanted. He did a lot of things right: great attack ads, hammered on the economy, and mined Toronto for seats. All of which helped push him passed the post.

I am not overly surprised (although very disappointed) that the Conservatives won.

I do a lot of talking about politics with friends and family. I find it very interesting to hear other people's points of view and their reasons for why they support different parties. I have a few really good friends who are really smart people who vote Conservative, and they do so normally for the following reasons: lower taxes, economic uncertainty and probably most often, lack of what they see as a strong leader in the other parties. Now, I know that people like Jack Layton, and they see him as a strong option but even with this huge gain in this election it's tough to believe that the NDP could ever win an election in Canada. And this makes me as a far lefty in Canada wonder what kind of country Canadians want. I've always assumed that Canadians were proud of their heritage, their universal healthcare and social programs. It seems that this is no longer the case; lots of Canadians would prefer to lean into the American style of healthcare and a militarization of the economy.

I joked with one of my colleagues over Facebook that we should transfer, and I was only half joking.

This brings me to an interesting documentary I watched recently about the political divide in the US and how in general the coasts are liberal and the centre is conservative. The director's conclusion was that there wasn't something about these places that make a person either conservative or liberal, but that people of these different world views tend to move into these areas - like attracts like. With this in mind, it makes me wonder if Canada is attracting more conservative (note the lack of capitalization) immigrants. I don't have any research, which I should look up but I'm too lethargic after watching the election, but it feels like in places that are heavy immigrant areas have skewed Conservative (Brampton, Scarborough etc.). Certainly Canadians of all stripes are voting for the Conservatives, as this majority proves, and I think that maybe this shows that Canadians, whether born here, or new Canadians really want a Conservative government. But what is a lefty to do?

Is moving to a country that is more inline with one's political view acceptable or is it giving up on your home? Can one use politics as a reason for emigrating? Can I claim political asylum in Sweden? These are questions that I half jokingly ask....but only HALF jokingly.

For now, there is a real change coming to Canada and I don't know if we will recognize the country by 2015, and I don't know if we (even those who voted for Harper) will be happy with the result.