Liberals: 135
New Conservatives: 99
Bloc Quebecois: 54
New Democratic Party: 19
Other: 1

Well this is not what i would have preferred to see. The NDP are one seat short of having the power position of combining with the Liberal minority to form a majority coalition. Nearly all of the most important social and environmental legislation by the Canadian federal government has been the result of the NDP and it predecessor the CCF putting pressure on minority governments.

Now the liberals are going to have to deal with the separatist Bloc Quebecois and that is never good for Canada. The Bloc's main goals are to get as much goodies for Quebec as possible while at the same time planning for the next referendum on separation. I fear for Canada as a country, I don't think we are going to survive much longer. Support for the Bloc skyrocketed in this election. I hope the increase was largely a protest vote against the Liberals but it could be much more than that, and the fact that the New Conservatives washed out in Quebec indicates it could very well be a resurgence of separatism.

Now it is going to be a game of trying to bring down the government and force a new election without looking like the party responsible for doing it. If Paul Martin has half a brain he will turn the dogs loose on everyone and anyone responsible for the sponsorship scandal. If he can do that effectively he will take away the single biggest complaint the Conservatives or the Bloc had in this recent election.

OK so much for the bad news :-) The good news is the gains the Green Party made in this election. In the 2000 election they only received about 1,100 votes, or about 0.08% of the vote across all of Canada. This year they ran candidates in all 309 ridings and they received 580,690 votes or 4.3% of the vote. Unless my math escapes me that's about a 5000% increase :-). This qualifies the party for $1.75 per vote per year until the next election. With $1,016,207.50 a year in financing the Green Party will be able to afford to hire organizers. I predict that if we have 2 years or more before the next election this money will make enough of a difference that the Greens will elect someone.