November 27, 2000
VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! - THE COMMENTARY
By Joseph Planta
VANCOUVER -- Thirty-six days go by quickly don’t they? So here we are, it all comes down to this. The 37th General Election began on a late October day and now we head to the polls this rainy Monday. (Since this is Vancouver, I’ll assume that it will be raining.)
My track record at political prognostication has not been perfect, but I shan’t let that deter me from wading into predicting waters again.
I predict a very slim majority government for the Liberals. I’m more safer calling a minority, but let me just go out on a limb and say slim. How slim? A very slim 1 seat over the other opposition parties combined. The 36th Parliament had 162 seats Liberal, 47 Alliance, 44 Bloc, NDP 20 and Tories with 15. There were also 3 independents.
I figure from The Commentary’s “Decision Desk” that the Liberals will win 152 seats, giving them the barest of minimum’s in terms of a majority. The Alliance will win 73, The Bloc 48, the NDP 14 and the Tories will slip below official party status at 8.
Through careful consideration I think the Alliance will be victorious in 25 of Alberta’s 26 seats. The one left will be won by Calgary Centre’s Joe Clark. I figure the Alliance sure in 3 Ontario ridings. The Liberals will sweep Ontario except those three, as well as the independent riding of John Nunziata (York South - Weston) and the seat currently held by Liberal Tony Ianno (Trinity - Spadina) will be won by Globe and Mail scribe, Michael Valpy who’ll win the NDP a seat in Ontario.
BC will see the Liberals win 4 seats. Those of Sophia Leung (Vancouver Kingsway), Herb Dhaliwal (Vancouver South - Burnaby), Hedy Fry (Vancouver Centre) and David Anderson’s (Victoria) seat. I believe that Lou Sekora (Port Moody - Coquitlam - Port Coquitlam), Raymond Chan (Richmond), non-incumbant Stephen Owen (Vancouver Quadra), will be defeated. The Alliance will sweep the province, sans those three NDP seats, of Libby Davies, Svend Robinson and Nelson Riis. (Vancouver East, Burnaby - Douglas and Kamloops, Thompson and Highland Valleys, respectively.)
Notwithstanding the predictions above, please vote.
Exercise your franchise to vote as it is your democratic right and it is a chance to register your political views (or not) at the polls. I’ve kept today’s edition short, simply to urge you to vote.
Polls are open from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM across BC, except those ridings in the Interior which are under Mountain Standard Time.
Questions and comments may be sent to: editor@thecommentary.ca
An archive of Joseph Planta's previous columns can be found by clicking HERE .