Election proceeds as expected, not much changes for students

By Sarelle Azuelos

Another federal election is over and not much has changed for Canadians. The Conservative party won another minority government with 142 seats Tuesday night. The Liberals lost 20 seats overall while the Conservatives gained 16 and the New Democrats five.


Harper’s call for support pulled through after he announced that he expected a minority government, but was not sure who would be in the lead.


“Canadians together have rendered their verdict and have charted the way forward for our country,” said Harper during the rally in Calgary that evening.


Only 10 seats were picked up by the Conservatives in Quebec, same as in the 2006 election, but a smaller number than the Tories were hoping for. The Bloc Quebecois won 50 seats out of the available 75 in Quebec. The Conservatives also won every riding in Alberta except for the Edmonton-Strathcona riding which saw an New Democratic Party victory.


The Liberals had the lowest tally since 1984 and the Progressive Conservative landslide. Long before the night was over, experts on major media networks were already discussing who would become the next leader of the Liberals. A leadership conference to discuss the issue will be held in May. Stephane Dion made no related announcements during his speech.


“I take up [the opposition] with great honour, surrounded by a less numerous, but determined team,” he said.


The first leader to speak as results were pouring in was Green Party leader Elizabeth May. It became apparent early on in the evening that she had lost in Central-Nova to defence minister Peter MacKay. The Greens ended the night with zero seats.


“We ran an exuberant, a positive and a joyful campaign,” she said. “We grabbed national attention, not because we were tilting at windmills, but because we set out to do something right and we did it for the right reasons.”


May is happy with the increase to seven per cent of the popular vote.


Students’ Union president Dalmy Baez said the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations would maintain the same lobby strategy they are using now, focusing on need-based as opposed to income-based grants.


“Regardless of what government it is, it’s still a new government and we’re hoping that with all these concerns about the economy and environment, the new government will actually see that having a well funded post-secondary education system will produce the leaders that we need in the future to face these challenges,” she said.


The SU is attending a lobby conference in Ottawa sometime early next year.


“It might actually be a better opportunity while they first start sitting,” said Baez. “We’ll be able to catch them while they’re fresh.”


This week’s election also saw a record low voter turnout with only 59.1 per cent of eligible voters casting ballots. Conservative Member of Parliament Rob Anders took the university’s riding, Calgary-West, with 57 per cent of the vote.