I lost my shirt last night - albeit a cheap T-shirt.
In fact the only bet I won is that Red Square would stay red, although for a wee bit I thought I would lose that one too.
My bet was 43-15 in seat count. I didn't anticipate that Mr. Roto-Rooter would be that busy in Regina, and I thought that Link's promise to First Nations on resource revenue sharing would make the last election's close seats of Meadow Lake, Battleford and Prince Albert possible wins for him. I also bet that the NDP would have 37% of the popular vote, being their traditional 30% core and extra vote from students and seniors on the rent control issue.
As for Link, although Mandryk flagged in his column last Friday that he could possibly lose it, I just couldn't imagine that a solid NDP seat would defeat its leader.
I'm chalking it all up to the fact that Brad Wall is an unusually popular leader and Lingfelter was an unusually unpopular leader.
Yesterday someone commented on my election night mix. In truth I have long-term friends from various political backgrounds. Good friendships are not one-dimensional - they are built on mutual respect for the opinions of others. Constructive criticism/analysis and friendly jibes are fine, but mean-spirited monologues are not acceptable in my circles. We all know that the benefit of dialogue with people with differing political views is that you can actually learn something if you are willing to listen.
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I'll be along for my winnings sometime soon Mistress. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteLooking back I was so close to the final numbers that you might consider me an expert. Not really just lucky.
Many much wiser than I are evaluating what happened last night and what it means for our province.
I see this as more of a endorsement for commonsense. The two parties couldn't have been farther apart on how to treat a growing economy. Link's free spending platform compared to a much more conservative approach for the next four years was obviously what the public wanted.
The best comment I heard was from Paul Martin that indicated the electorate reminded the public sector unions who they work for. I don't see this as a target on these unions but more of "you can't hold us hostage" approach to negotiations in the future.
I don't think there will be any "surprises" in the next 4 years. That doesn't mean that there won't be big changes but those changes will be moving in the same direction they have over the last four years. Bringing in policies that make this province the envy of every other province and invest in infrastructure for the benefit of future generations.
All in all was a rather predictable result last night (in the sense a SP landslide and NDP reduced to 15 to 8 seats depending on predictions).
ReplyDeleteWas there anything more classless than Judy Junor though? As she was going down in flames to say she knows what the SP has planned and it's going to be a bad 4 years. That's a great thing to say about the party that the majority of the province (and her riding) overwhelmingly voted for.
Just another union thug trying to bully Sask.
I am grateful to all the candidates, of all political stripes, who had the courage and conviction to put their names forward in service to our province. And congratulate & wish the best to our newly elected Government and official opposition.
ReplyDeleteParty support goes up and down and this time it was the NDP that went down. Not surprising given our economy has been good ....people dont change Governments when times are good. I do wish this Governemnt great success, as if they succeed so do we all. I also hope that the oppostion party will play a strong role.A strong opposition is essential to a well functioning democracy.
I think those who lost seats last night, did so with grace. Hopefully, the hyper partisans out there can show an equal amount of graciousness in their commentaries.