Predictions on specific ridings

A friend asked for my opinions on specific riding results. I've included his comments and my responses below:


-Vancouver Centre.
Liar vs. Thief. Nuff said.

I think the Liar will take it. The sort of politics that Svend represents just doesn't seems all that relevant in this election. Being a not-so-petty thief definitely doesn't help either :) I have to say, this is one riding I wouldn't mind seeing an upset win for the Cons (and I don't mean Svend).




- New Market-Aurora.
The blond factor :-)

As much it pains me to say it, I think that blond twit will pull it off. She's the closest thing to a political rockstar in Canada at the moment, her daddy supports her, and she's planted very firmly in the center. And who knows, even if the Liberals lose she may end up in government anyway ;-)



- Etobico-Lakeshore.
It's not really a contest. I'm sure he'll win, protestations from the Ukrainian community notwithstanding.
What do you think about him in general?

Yeah I expect Ignatief to take it pretty handily. You're probably not going to be too surprised to hear that I'm not a fan of this guy. In my opinion, his support of the Iraq invasion when Bush was so flagrantly thumbing his nose at the international community shows a major lack of judgment (I'd say the same thing about Tony Blair). That said I generally agree with his Liberal-Hawk sentiments when it comes to foreign policy. I think he'll actually be a good asset for the Liberals, esp. in opposition. After all he looks so statesmen-like and has all sorts of academic cred. They could make him foreign affairs critic- it would be hard to accuse him of being anti-American, and he could could have a platform for his Lib-Hawk views (and lots of ammo with a Conservative government in power). I think he would do far less well in government, and my guess would be that he would probably make an unpopular party leader. But I haven't completely made up my mind on this guy, let's see how he does in parliament first.

- Trinity-Spadina.
I want Olivia Chow to lose mainly because I anticipate a lot of media fuss about a 'husband-wife' team if she's elected (it'd be so nauseating).

I agree it will be somewhat nauseating to see these two lovebirds in parliament together all the time. And not to mention it just doesn't seem right, it smacks of nepotism. But I expect Chow to pick up the riding, and I don't think it'll be as close as some people think. She's going to pick up a lot of votes as people flee the sinking Lib ship. Not to mention Ianno is a total Martin lackey, why would people want to have such a lame duck as their local rep.


- somewhere in Montreal.
That spaceman, Mark Garneau, who wanted to send Duceppe to the moon or something :-)

I'm think he's running in some riding outside of Montreal actually. I'm afraid he probably won't be able to bring his galactic perspective to Canadian parliament. Maybe Harper will take pity on him and make him Canada's first ambassador to Mars.


- Edmonton-Strathcona (well, you know why and it's always fun to see how all those who overconfident NDPs who say how 'close' the race is this year, proven wrong yet again.

I have to agree on that one. While the NDP do have a chance of taking the riding, I have to give this one to Rahim Jaffer. A lot of people obviously don't like the guy because he's shown himself to be quite the goof on occasion. But the vast majority of left-wing voters would have to unify behind the NDP for them to take this away from the Cons. I'm guessing this is pretty unlikely. A question for you Ilya: Does the NDP seem to have more of a presence then the Libs this time around?