A minority Conservative government? Better than a majority

Conservatives 124 Liberals 103 Bloc 51 NDP 29 Independents 1

9 pm

Canada Elections Act: Section 329

No person shall transmit the result or purported result of the vote in an electoral district to the public in another electoral district before the close of all of the polling stations in that other electoral district.

That makes sense. Otherwise people in open ridings wouldn't vote, right?

930 pm

Finally. The numbers are in. And I'm scared silly. The Conservatives are going strong and all the networks are calling a Conservative victory. This when only 10% of the votes are counted. I hope Quebec doesn't separate. I think. I knew Peter MacKay would win his Central Nova riding. I knew Liberals Michael Ignatieff, Tony Clement, Irwin Cotler and John McCallum would too.

10 pm

Props to my Thornhill gal Susan Kadis. (She ate in my succah;) My grandparents are happy Carolyn Bennett won, and I'm not surprised she beat Peter Kent. Though I am surprised Tony Valeri lost. And Anne McLellan, Marilyn Churley and Svend Robinson. I'm pretty sure my parents-in-law won't be happy when they find out Ken Dryden beat Michael Mostyn.

1030pm

I knew Conservative-turned-Liberals Belinda Stronach and Scott Brison would both take the race in their respective ridings. Can't help but love those celebrity candidates. I hoped Olivia would pull out a win on Tony. Nice. I wanted Jack to increase his 18 seats. Nice. And I knew Bill Graham would win my Toronto Centre riding, but I voted Green anyway.

11 pm

I wondered what would happen to Mr. Goodale -- but who would've thunk that the Conservatives would win every single Alberta seat? But zip in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal! And I really wanted the Greens to take a seat. Couldn't they get just one?!

1130 pm

What's with this just-over-60% voter-turnout? (Honestly Dad.) Only 61% voted in the last federal election, but I thought the drama this time 'round would get people off their asses.

12am

It comes as no surprise -- Paul Martin will step down as Liberal leader. But he'll remain an MP.

In just 55 days, 12 years of Liberal Canada have come to an end -- with just popcorn and beer to show for it. I can't believe Stephen Harper is our prime minister. He got 10 seats in Quebec -- this after getting zip in the last election. And to think -- the Liberals and the Conservatives each had 43% of the popular vote. If only we had proportional representation in this country...

But I like minority governments. They can't last long, and they work better. We can't go to war, or chuck our Kyoto commitments, or ban gay marriage or marijuana or abortion without majority government support. And now the States will merge with Canada as the North-American super-power. It can't be all bad, right? Are we still getting a GST cut?

1am

"Tonight, our country has voted for change," says Stephen Harper. He looks happy.