On November 7, the voters of Saskatchewan, Yukon, and Northwest Territories, elected new provincial or territorial parliaments. In Saskatchewan, the Saskatchewan Party won an overwhelming victory, winning perhaps 50 of the 58 seats. In this election, the New Democratic Party placed second, and in total popular votes, the Green Party placed third, with 3%. However, one reason the Green Party polled more popular votes than the fourth-place Liberal Party is that the Green Party ran in every district, whereas the Liberal Party did not.
In Yukon, the Yukon Party won control of the territorial legislature. The Northwest Territories election is non-partisan. Thanks to Thomas Jones for this story.
Canada is starting to wake up.
I wish the old Social Credit Party would come back in force, but this is still good.
Canada — more Stone Age ANTI-Democracy minority rule gerrymander regimes due to the Brits — gee — just like the Stone Age gerrymander regimes in the U.S.A.
However – more larger party hack gangs in Canada and the U.K. due to easier ballot access laws.
How many ONE party safe seat ANTI-Democracy gerrymander districts in the U.K, Canada, U.S.A., etc. ???
This is a victory, but I remind everyone that parties in Canada are not Federalized/Nationalized like in the US, UK, Australia, etc.
They really only contest country-wide elections, with each party having a “party-base” in one of the large provinces (Ontario, B.C., and Quebec)
When one looks at Yukon, Saskatchewan, etc. There is no real effort to establish a Canada-wide NDP/Lib/PC party.
The only thing the US has is Vermont, as a demonstration of this “Provincial Politics”
I have never heard of the Saskatchewan Party.
And while I know ballot access in the Canadian provinces is easier than in most U.S. states, still why does it appear to be much “easier” to convince the voters there in Canada (who are in many ways just like the people living in those northern-mid-western US states)to vote for a new party in such massive numbers? Even when a 3rd party does get ballot access in a U.S. state, it is lucky if it wins 5% of the vote. Is it that these parties in Canada and its candidates are talking about WHAT the voters want to hear, whereas in the U.S. the parties are too philosophical rather than appealing to people?
I’m baffled.
#1 The current financial crisis has been going on for almost four years. The Social Crediters, Distributivists, Soddyites and others of similar inclination have to hold a conference and form a common program. They’re almost invisible.
@4 This is, I think, the third election that the Saskatchewan Party has won in Saskatchewan. The Yukon Party won in Yukon, incidentally. They are filling a niche met nationally by the Conservative Party, I believe. As #3 said, the Canadian national and provincial parties are not the same beast like they are in the US.
@3 The NDP is fairly evenly if thinly distributed around the country on a federal level, isn’t it? It also made provincial gains, in the East, traditionally a weak area. Though I get your point that the provincial parties are different in many ways from the national parties of the same name. It isn’t unknown for a provincial leader in one party to become a MP for another party, like Bob Rae (Ontario NDP -> Liberals), or vice versa like Jean Charest (Conservatives -> Quebec Liberal Party).
Much/Most of Canada has the advanced socialist rot as in much/most of Europe = Tax/Borrow = Spend until total bankruptcy of the economy.
See the very rotted PIIGS regimes in Europe.
Is the U.S.A. just as econ rotted — with a mere about $ 18 TRILLION in Fed/State/local debts at the moment ??? Stay tuned.
#4 The Saskatchewan Party is a loose coalition of Conservatives and Liberals who have joined to defeat the NDP. So in a way it a coalescing into a 2-party system.
Provincial and national elections are conducted independently and on separate schedules. It may also have to do with a parliamentary form of government. If Jesse Ventura had wanted to be premier of Minnesota, he would have recruited a bunch of candidates and urged support of their election a MLAs. If congressional and other elections were held at a different time, and so all that was at stake, was the government of Minnesota, it is conceivable it would have been successful.