A Disappointing Election Night for Most Political Players

It’s not quite midnight here in Alberta on election night and at this hour it looks as if there’s something to disappoint almost everyone.

“Liberals Set to Return to Power,” the Globe and Mail proclaims, but not with a majority or all that comfortable a lead — 165 to 147 for the Conservatives with 93 per cent of the polls reporting.

Given the confident predictions of a number of pollsters in the past few days that Canada’s Natural Governing Party was headed for a majority, that has to be a disappointment for Prime Minister Mark Carney and his Liberals. But, still, he is the PM, and this time he has an actual mandate of sorts, plus he won his own seat, so that’s got that to temper the disappointment.

Pierre Poilievre, the Conservative leader, who thought for months he was a deadbolt cinch to be prime minister with a majority so massive he could do what he pleased with the country, led his party to yet another defeat, albeit a narrow one. At press time, as we used to say, he looked to be about to lose his own seat. He says he wants to stick around as leader, though. We’ll see about that. So, plenty of disappointment for the Cons.

The NDP under Jagmeet Singh? Not just disappointment — disaster! The party’s been reduced to a pathetic seven seats, completely shut out of Ontario. (Where’s Charlie Angus now that we need him?) Singh lost his own seat in British Columbia and quit on the spot. Under the circumstances, that was a mercy to all concerned. The party’s future is murky.

As for the Bloc Québécois: with 23 seats, it doesn’t quite hold the balance of power in the next Parliament. The party suffered a stampede of voters to the Liberals — Quebec electors seeming to have a kind of herd intelligence lacking in the rest of the country. So it was a disappointing night for leader Yves-Francois Blanchet, too. Quebec sovereignty will have to move to the back burner for a spell.

Here in Alberta, the province’s Conservatives, New Democrats and Liberals all have something to cry about. When the federal Conservatives start looking around for someone to blame for their loss, Premier Danielle Smith is bound to find herself in the metaphorical crosshairs. Her own caucus will likely become more unruly and hard to control. So there was disappointment last night for her as well. I wonder if she’ll congratulate Carney, which even Poilievre managed to do.

Meanwhile, south of the 49th Parallel, President Donald Trump may find some joy in the results, or maybe not. Who the hell knows? No matter, his polls are plunging faster than a broken circus ride. Colour him disappointed too.

So is anybody entitled to be happy on this disappointing night? Sure!

Leastways, one imagines that Elizabeth May, once again the sole Green with a chair in the House of Commons, will be privately delighted. No more annoying co-leader, although that’s a thought she’s wise enough to keep to herself, and once again she’ll be the brightest and best-briefed MP in Parliament, unless you count that guy with a PhD in economics.

OK, so there will obviously be many more conclusions to draw from this on the morrow, as the dust settles, the seat count solidifies and we all give our heads a shake.

And, as comedian Billy Connolly would say, the results may all have changed again in the morning, so stay awake!