Alternate Wikipedia Infoboxes V (Do Not Post Current Politics Here)
- Status
I heard of a colonel who fought in those. He made quite a name for himself afterward. Built an empire that absolutely fried the competition.
"The Herbs must flow" was their motto. Powerful stuff if you ever got it on your fingers
The War on Terror: Insane Edition
Back in high school, one of the group projects we had in AP World History was to make a short alternate history film about any point of divergence we wanted to. I was excited about this as I had just begun getting into alternate history at the time and was eager to make an interesting film (albeit constrained of course by the zero budget nature of it). As it happened, my group was...less keen on probability and decided to have our film (which had to have a divergence post-1970) about if Bush had died on 9/11. Interesting premise you can do a lot with, but, well...the infobox kind of speaks for itself about what we had happen.
Back in high school, one of the group projects we had in AP World History was to make a short alternate history film about any point of divergence we wanted to. I was excited about this as I had just begun getting into alternate history at the time and was eager to make an interesting film (albeit constrained of course by the zero budget nature of it). As it happened, my group was...less keen on probability and decided to have our film (which had to have a divergence post-1970) about if Bush had died on 9/11. Interesting premise you can do a lot with, but, well...the infobox kind of speaks for itself about what we had happen.
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Update for my TL 'Legacy of the Bull Moose; A wikibox timeline'
Marco Rubio (born Marco Antonio Rubio) is the 47th and current President of the United States. Elected at the age of 45, President Rubio is the second youngest person to ascend to the Presidency and the youngest person to be elected United States President. Rubio is a Cuban-American from Miami, being elected to the United States Senate in 2011. Rubio would narrowly win the Democratic Presidential nomination in 2016 against Rick Santorum. Rubio would choose Nikki Haley as his running mate, viewing their ideological compatibility and their dual rising star status as important for the Democratic ticket. The Rubio/Haley ticket would decisively defeat the Biden/Patrick ticket, with many commentators speculating the ongoing recession and the unpopularity of the Carbon tax passed under Biden's tenure made him an easy candidate to defeat. During his presidency Rubio has raised controversies, mainly for his Justice Department's lackadaisical defense of privacy rights, as well as the Rubio administration's efforts to befriend the Brazilian regime. The Rubio administration however remains mixed in popularity, with Democratic bases pleased with tax cuts emphasized by the Rubio administration, as well as increases in funding for Army modernization measures and for Commonwealth Organization and Pacific Council defense. International observers see the Rubio administration as mixed in foreign endeavors, with the administration strengthening ties with Commonwealth allies, and the European Entente while also distancing itself from ties in the Pan American League and the Global Congress. President Rubio currently has an approval rating of 54%, with many seeing the upcoming Presidential election as a toss-up however in the President's favor.
Would you feel the same way if I told you I had to play Vladimir Putin personally showing up at an Al-Qaeda compound to give Osama bin Laden a nuke?
More from Green Revolution.
Unfortunately the party situation and control isn't quite as interesting as it could be, since in Montana whenever there's a tie in a chamber, control just passes to the governor's party. But getting laws passed will be interesting.
Unfortunately the party situation and control isn't quite as interesting as it could be, since in Montana whenever there's a tie in a chamber, control just passes to the governor's party. But getting laws passed will be interesting.
Maybe not.
Depending on which year, I may have been cast as Bill Clinton, Boris Yeltsin, or Nixon.
After the death of Superman in 1992, many new superheroes made their debuts to fill the role left in his wake. Steel, originally debuting under the name “Man of Steel,” was among the first. Utilizing a suit of hi-tech armor, Steel has battled the impostor Supermen, was involved in the attack on Coast City, and has been one of Metropolis' defenders in the post-Superman era. He is considered to be one of the most popular and effective of the new era of heroes, often collaborating with the Superman family and the Justice League of America.
Due to his length of service as a superhero, and the relative lack of personal information he has put forward in nearly thirty years, many conspiracy theories have popped up around him. From him being the cybernetic reincarnation of Superman, a lost relative of the Justice Society's Steel Family, a robot programmed by the Justice League, the very spirit of justice incarnated into metal, and even him being multiple superheroes wearing a single identity.
DC Comics in Real Time:
Bruce Wayne (Batman I)
Jay Garrick (Flash I)
Albrecht Krieger (Captain Nazi)
Doomsday Event (The Death of Superman)
1988 Gotham diplomatic incidents
Sandra Knight Borden (Phantom Lady)
Dudley H. Dudley ("Uncle Marvel")
Arkham Asylum
Atomic Bombing of Iraq
Justice Society of America
---
Excellent work and probably. Also if nothing else they might realise he's an African american as Irons did make his mask look like a black man's face. I'd guess like in the comics he'd probably be the hero whose accepted the fastest by Metropolis as he is one of the two who aren't claiming to be the second coming and he's not got Superboy's utter arrogance alienating people (at least at first).
After the death of Superman in 1992, many new superheroes made their debuts to fill the role left in his wake. Steel, originally debuting under the name “Man of Steel,” was among the first. Utilizing a suit of hi-tech armor, Steel has battled the impostor Supermen, was involved in the attack on Coast City, and has been one of Metropolis' defenders in the post-Superman era. He is considered to be one of the most popular and effective of the new era of heroes, often collaborating with the Superman family and the Justice League of America.
Due to his length of service as a superhero, and the relative lack of personal information he has put forward in nearly thirty years, many conspiracy theories have popped up around him. From him being the cybernetic reincarnation of Superman, a lost relative of the Justice Society's Steel Family, a robot programmed by the Justice League, the very spirit of justice incarnated into metal, and even him being multiple superheroes wearing a single identity.
So, does this count as the first black superhero I've done with this project? 🤔🤔🤔🤔
DC Comics in Real Time:
Bruce Wayne (Batman I)
Jay Garrick (Flash I)
Albrecht Krieger (Captain Nazi)
Doomsday Event (The Death of Superman)
1988 Gotham diplomatic incidents
Sandra Knight Borden (Phantom Lady)
Dudley H. Dudley ("Uncle Marvel")
Arkham Asylum
Atomic Bombing of Iraq
Justice Society of America
---
Posted without context
>Twice as many ballots as the 1924 DNC.
Truly, a cursed timeline. Although proportionally, shouldn't the balloting have gone into September? Or does the LNC go through ballots a lot faster?
I wonder if Cheney has had less heart attacks or more in this accursed timeline?
The threshold to be nominated goes down bit by bit until the fourth ballot, where it remains fixated. The Liberal-Republican Convention goes through ballots a lot faster. They manage roughly 10 per day. There's a lot of back-room negotiation, as the convention is where the candidates are chosen. As a compromise, the threshold of nomination is gradually lowered from 3/4ths of all delegates to 50% plus 1. The remaining eighty ballots were spent on the Palin campaign attempting to garner some sort of defection from the loose coalition of "stop-palin" movement that sprung up when she took the delegate lead (and remained there) on the 30th Ballot. The "Stop-Palin" Movement was hoping to stall the convention long enough and wear down Palin for negotiations where it was hoped she would step aside for a more "electable" candidate. She refused it and her allies on the Liberal-Republican Convention Rules Committee lowered the threshold to a bare majority, which she finally won on the 208th Ballot.
Probably more.
The 2009 Canadian federal election (formally the 41st Canadian general election) was held on July 14,
2009, to elect members to the House of Commons of Canada of the 41st Canadian Parliament. The writs of election for the 2009 election were issued by Governor General Michelle Jean on May 30. One of the longest campaigns in Canadian history, it was also the first time since the 1921 election to see a coalition government not re-offer itself to voters.
The Conservative Party, led by Jim Prentice, won 204 seats, allowing it to form a majority government with Prentice becoming the next Prime Minister. Prentice and the rest of his cabinet were sworn in on July 29, 2009. The Bloc Quebecois, led by Gilles Duceppe, won 50 seats, becoming the Official Opposition for the first time since the 1993 federal election. The Liberal Party, led by incumbent Prime Minister Michael Ignatieff, won 29 seats, becoming the third-largest party in the House of Commons, after having formed the Official Opposition and later the senior partner in the Liberal-New Democratic coalition government following the 2008 election. The New Democratic Party, led by Jack Layton, won 25 seats, after having served as the junior partner in the previous coalition government. The Green Party, led by Elizabeth May, lost its only seat in the House of Commons, with May failing to win her own seat.
The Conservative Party’s increase of 61 seats from the previous election was the largest numerical increase by a political party forming government since the 1993 election. It also became the first election since 1993 where a party secured more than forty percent of the popular vote. Prior to the election the last time a federal conservative party secured a majority government was in election of 1988 under Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. The election also saw the first majority government led by a western Canadian since John Diefenbaker in 1958.
Following the election, Ignatieff conceded defeat to Prentice and announced his resignation as leader of the Liberal Party. Jack Layton announced his intention to remain leader of the NDP, but would go on to pass away in the summer of 2011. Gilles Duceppe resigned as both Leader of the Official Opposition and leader of the Bloc Quebecois a year later to pursue the leadership of the Parti Quebecois in the leadup to the 2012 Quebec general election.
Snow falls to the ground. It’s January. Parliament Hill is alive with wails of the vanquished, the hollers of the victorious, and the quiet contemplations of the ambitious.
As was so often the case in Canadian politics, a period of seemingly unending predictability was replaced with events so unpredictable that they could only be labeled as genuinely Canadiana, albeit historic. Stephen Harper, the co-founder and ideological anchor of the modern Canadian conservative movement, was now gone. A political tactician previously unseen in the arena, forever pursuing the dream of humbling the Liberals under the weight of a majority Conservative government, Harper’s lucky streak had finally run out of rabbit’s feet. Replacing him in the Prime Minister’s Office was his once-thought-vanquished-foe, Stéphane Dion, who had cobbled together an unruly coalition of anti-conservatives in the House of Commons to install himself in 24 Sussex, if only for a brief transitional period. But there had never been much love for Dion within his party, and many were suspicious of his promises of a better future for the party of Pearson, Trudeau, and Chretien. After all, as became quickly evident following his accidental leadership victory, he was no brawler. The man who was thought to chill the hearts of Quebec sovereigntists melted away to reveal Elmer Fudd. A bumbling professorial dunce who could neither communicate with English Canada, nor his native French-speaking Quebecers. An impressive balancing act. But with the charismatic Jack Layton at his side, and more importantly his caucus, and Gilles Duceppe quietly sitting in the background, Dion believed he could save the country from economic peril, perhaps even convince enough of his colleagues to let him fight the next election and become an authentic Prime Minister in the style of the Liberal leaders that had so often plagued his nightmares, taunting him. But more importantly than never being loved by his party, Liberals simply didn’t respect Dion. Many backroom insiders saw him as a means to an end. Back Dion now, install the respected Renaissance man Michael Ignatieff, who needed but a little more time in the political oven before assuming his rightful place as leader of Canada’s natural governing party. So, with the party now heading a Coalition government and the clock ticking, the pressure to stage their deputy leader’s promotion to interim Prime Minister, before coronating him as actual Prime Minister, became overwhelming. Not soon after tasting power, Dion was swept away by those eager to do something with it.
Enter Iggy. Tall. Handsome? Certainly intelligent. World traveller. Harvard professor. Strained smiler. The list went on.
Much like the coronations of European Kings and Queens past, there was no true opposition when Michael Ignatieff gained his crown, save for the squabbles of his pretenders. Bob Rae sulked in the corner, forever eager to help Canadians forget his time as the Premier of Ontario by writing a new chapter of his political life, but so often forgetting to bring his pen. Dominic LeBlanc was young and ambitious, bilingual and smart, but simply hadn’t waited his turn, nor had accomplished anything other than being elected in New Brunswick. Liberal insiders were eager to prepare their new supreme leader for the inevitable election that was hurling towards them at great speed, like some gargantuan asteroid from above. Relations within the coalition had never been perfect, with New Democratic cabinet ministers aching at the growing pains of actually being faced with governing responsibility. Personalities clashed, both privately and publicly, patronage jobs were handed out unequally, the economy wasn’t recovering fast enough, there was confusion within the civil service, and Jack Layton kept acting like he was Vice President of the United States of Canada; forever flaunting his ego and supposed power, when in reality all that was needed that he stay in the background while the grown ups governed the country. The only thing that seemed to keep the whole thing together was the fear of mutually assured destruction. That, and Dion’s eagerness to stay in charge. But Dion was now gone. Layton faced a new Liberal Prime Minister, and one which he decidedly didn’t like. Whereas the NDP leader was a social democrat in the mold of Ed Broadbent and Tommy Douglas, eager to implement change now and change right away, Prime Minister Ignatieff was a Pearsonian Liberal, suspended in amber, representing a politician more interested in debating the political abstract than its concrete reality. If change did have to happen, it would happen slowly. Deliberately. And when Ignatieff wanted it to. Suffice to say the marriage had hit the rocks, and was on the verge on an unamiable split.
Conservative leader Jim Prentice sits in his House of Commons chair as Leader of the Official Opposition, opposite the Prime Minister, whoever it is this week, thinking one thing. Could things have gone any better?
Born in Ontario but raised in the West, Jim Prentice had a long and storied career in Canadian politics. He was one of the few Westerners who stayed with the decaying PC Party, and unsuccessfully ran for its leadership against the unlikely tag-team of Peter “The Golden Boy” MacKay, and David “Free-Trade is Bad” Orchard in 2003. But Jim was a dutiful solider in the conservative movement and strived to continue to do his duty in bringing about a family reunion, even going as far as allowing Canadian Alliance leader Stephen Harper to enter parliament without any opposition. Such loyalty, rare in the ambitious circles of conservative politics, was rewarded with a position in Harper’s cabinet. Jim was even given the title of technically deputy prime minister, and the freedom to speak to reporters without the PMO’s hand up his arse. But that was then. Harper was now on the outs, having handed government back to the Liberals, and the Tories were in the motions of their holiest ritual; stabbing their leader in the back, and with gusto this time. Jim meanwhile was a respected figure within the outgoing government. He had helped, albeit in the background, to orchestrate the merger, and had ample ears eagerly waiting to hear his reasoning as to why the party should keep Harper on. Plus, he had that salt and pepper hair that voters liked. Again, Jim played the part of the dutiful solider. But his duty was to the party, not the man. With Harper gone, Jim’s stock was on the rise. From Alberta? Check. Economic background? Check. Connections to the oil industry? Check. Not Stockwell Day or Peter MacKay? Check and check. Although it took a few ballots, Jim Prentice took the bloodied Tory crown, and prepared his party for the inevitable march back into government. But there was fear in Opposition Leader’s office. Unless Jim secured the majority that had eluded Stephen Harper, Preston Manning, and all the other Tory leaders that had followed Brian Mulroney, the knives within the Conservative Party caucus would turn towards him. He was responsible for it this time.
Voters meanwhile looked on with confusion. What do you mean that bespectacled guy from Quebec is Prime Minister? Didn’t he just lose the election? Coalition? What’s that? Sounds Swedish to me. Stephen Harper seems a lot more human lately. Wait, what do you mean that’s Jim Prentice? Who’s Jim Prentice? Why isn’t the economy improving? Isn’t anyone going to do anything about those gas prices? Jack Layton is breaking up the government? How does that work? Another election?! Good grief. Those clowns can get their act together. That Jim guy seems pretty level-headed. The Liberals staged a coup, and we don’t want that happening again. Oh look, Prentice brought out his family. Aren’t they gorgeous? That Iggy guy is awkward, won’t look anyone in the eye. Campaigning on Canada Day? Seriously, that Iggy guy hasn’t got a clue. Hey, are we heading to the polling station now or later? Okay, okay, just let me grab my keys. Where’s the station again?
I'm just going to tune in the election real quick. Wow, that’s something now ain’t it? Looks like the ocean or something with all that blue.
2009, to elect members to the House of Commons of Canada of the 41st Canadian Parliament. The writs of election for the 2009 election were issued by Governor General Michelle Jean on May 30. One of the longest campaigns in Canadian history, it was also the first time since the 1921 election to see a coalition government not re-offer itself to voters.
The Conservative Party, led by Jim Prentice, won 204 seats, allowing it to form a majority government with Prentice becoming the next Prime Minister. Prentice and the rest of his cabinet were sworn in on July 29, 2009. The Bloc Quebecois, led by Gilles Duceppe, won 50 seats, becoming the Official Opposition for the first time since the 1993 federal election. The Liberal Party, led by incumbent Prime Minister Michael Ignatieff, won 29 seats, becoming the third-largest party in the House of Commons, after having formed the Official Opposition and later the senior partner in the Liberal-New Democratic coalition government following the 2008 election. The New Democratic Party, led by Jack Layton, won 25 seats, after having served as the junior partner in the previous coalition government. The Green Party, led by Elizabeth May, lost its only seat in the House of Commons, with May failing to win her own seat.
The Conservative Party’s increase of 61 seats from the previous election was the largest numerical increase by a political party forming government since the 1993 election. It also became the first election since 1993 where a party secured more than forty percent of the popular vote. Prior to the election the last time a federal conservative party secured a majority government was in election of 1988 under Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. The election also saw the first majority government led by a western Canadian since John Diefenbaker in 1958.
Following the election, Ignatieff conceded defeat to Prentice and announced his resignation as leader of the Liberal Party. Jack Layton announced his intention to remain leader of the NDP, but would go on to pass away in the summer of 2011. Gilles Duceppe resigned as both Leader of the Official Opposition and leader of the Bloc Quebecois a year later to pursue the leadership of the Parti Quebecois in the leadup to the 2012 Quebec general election.
As was so often the case in Canadian politics, a period of seemingly unending predictability was replaced with events so unpredictable that they could only be labeled as genuinely Canadiana, albeit historic. Stephen Harper, the co-founder and ideological anchor of the modern Canadian conservative movement, was now gone. A political tactician previously unseen in the arena, forever pursuing the dream of humbling the Liberals under the weight of a majority Conservative government, Harper’s lucky streak had finally run out of rabbit’s feet. Replacing him in the Prime Minister’s Office was his once-thought-vanquished-foe, Stéphane Dion, who had cobbled together an unruly coalition of anti-conservatives in the House of Commons to install himself in 24 Sussex, if only for a brief transitional period. But there had never been much love for Dion within his party, and many were suspicious of his promises of a better future for the party of Pearson, Trudeau, and Chretien. After all, as became quickly evident following his accidental leadership victory, he was no brawler. The man who was thought to chill the hearts of Quebec sovereigntists melted away to reveal Elmer Fudd. A bumbling professorial dunce who could neither communicate with English Canada, nor his native French-speaking Quebecers. An impressive balancing act. But with the charismatic Jack Layton at his side, and more importantly his caucus, and Gilles Duceppe quietly sitting in the background, Dion believed he could save the country from economic peril, perhaps even convince enough of his colleagues to let him fight the next election and become an authentic Prime Minister in the style of the Liberal leaders that had so often plagued his nightmares, taunting him. But more importantly than never being loved by his party, Liberals simply didn’t respect Dion. Many backroom insiders saw him as a means to an end. Back Dion now, install the respected Renaissance man Michael Ignatieff, who needed but a little more time in the political oven before assuming his rightful place as leader of Canada’s natural governing party. So, with the party now heading a Coalition government and the clock ticking, the pressure to stage their deputy leader’s promotion to interim Prime Minister, before coronating him as actual Prime Minister, became overwhelming. Not soon after tasting power, Dion was swept away by those eager to do something with it.
Enter Iggy. Tall. Handsome? Certainly intelligent. World traveller. Harvard professor. Strained smiler. The list went on.
Much like the coronations of European Kings and Queens past, there was no true opposition when Michael Ignatieff gained his crown, save for the squabbles of his pretenders. Bob Rae sulked in the corner, forever eager to help Canadians forget his time as the Premier of Ontario by writing a new chapter of his political life, but so often forgetting to bring his pen. Dominic LeBlanc was young and ambitious, bilingual and smart, but simply hadn’t waited his turn, nor had accomplished anything other than being elected in New Brunswick. Liberal insiders were eager to prepare their new supreme leader for the inevitable election that was hurling towards them at great speed, like some gargantuan asteroid from above. Relations within the coalition had never been perfect, with New Democratic cabinet ministers aching at the growing pains of actually being faced with governing responsibility. Personalities clashed, both privately and publicly, patronage jobs were handed out unequally, the economy wasn’t recovering fast enough, there was confusion within the civil service, and Jack Layton kept acting like he was Vice President of the United States of Canada; forever flaunting his ego and supposed power, when in reality all that was needed that he stay in the background while the grown ups governed the country. The only thing that seemed to keep the whole thing together was the fear of mutually assured destruction. That, and Dion’s eagerness to stay in charge. But Dion was now gone. Layton faced a new Liberal Prime Minister, and one which he decidedly didn’t like. Whereas the NDP leader was a social democrat in the mold of Ed Broadbent and Tommy Douglas, eager to implement change now and change right away, Prime Minister Ignatieff was a Pearsonian Liberal, suspended in amber, representing a politician more interested in debating the political abstract than its concrete reality. If change did have to happen, it would happen slowly. Deliberately. And when Ignatieff wanted it to. Suffice to say the marriage had hit the rocks, and was on the verge on an unamiable split.
Conservative leader Jim Prentice sits in his House of Commons chair as Leader of the Official Opposition, opposite the Prime Minister, whoever it is this week, thinking one thing. Could things have gone any better?
Born in Ontario but raised in the West, Jim Prentice had a long and storied career in Canadian politics. He was one of the few Westerners who stayed with the decaying PC Party, and unsuccessfully ran for its leadership against the unlikely tag-team of Peter “The Golden Boy” MacKay, and David “Free-Trade is Bad” Orchard in 2003. But Jim was a dutiful solider in the conservative movement and strived to continue to do his duty in bringing about a family reunion, even going as far as allowing Canadian Alliance leader Stephen Harper to enter parliament without any opposition. Such loyalty, rare in the ambitious circles of conservative politics, was rewarded with a position in Harper’s cabinet. Jim was even given the title of technically deputy prime minister, and the freedom to speak to reporters without the PMO’s hand up his arse. But that was then. Harper was now on the outs, having handed government back to the Liberals, and the Tories were in the motions of their holiest ritual; stabbing their leader in the back, and with gusto this time. Jim meanwhile was a respected figure within the outgoing government. He had helped, albeit in the background, to orchestrate the merger, and had ample ears eagerly waiting to hear his reasoning as to why the party should keep Harper on. Plus, he had that salt and pepper hair that voters liked. Again, Jim played the part of the dutiful solider. But his duty was to the party, not the man. With Harper gone, Jim’s stock was on the rise. From Alberta? Check. Economic background? Check. Connections to the oil industry? Check. Not Stockwell Day or Peter MacKay? Check and check. Although it took a few ballots, Jim Prentice took the bloodied Tory crown, and prepared his party for the inevitable march back into government. But there was fear in Opposition Leader’s office. Unless Jim secured the majority that had eluded Stephen Harper, Preston Manning, and all the other Tory leaders that had followed Brian Mulroney, the knives within the Conservative Party caucus would turn towards him. He was responsible for it this time.
Voters meanwhile looked on with confusion. What do you mean that bespectacled guy from Quebec is Prime Minister? Didn’t he just lose the election? Coalition? What’s that? Sounds Swedish to me. Stephen Harper seems a lot more human lately. Wait, what do you mean that’s Jim Prentice? Who’s Jim Prentice? Why isn’t the economy improving? Isn’t anyone going to do anything about those gas prices? Jack Layton is breaking up the government? How does that work? Another election?! Good grief. Those clowns can get their act together. That Jim guy seems pretty level-headed. The Liberals staged a coup, and we don’t want that happening again. Oh look, Prentice brought out his family. Aren’t they gorgeous? That Iggy guy is awkward, won’t look anyone in the eye. Campaigning on Canada Day? Seriously, that Iggy guy hasn’t got a clue. Hey, are we heading to the polling station now or later? Okay, okay, just let me grab my keys. Where’s the station again?
I'm just going to tune in the election real quick. Wow, that’s something now ain’t it? Looks like the ocean or something with all that blue.
The 2013 Canadian federal election (formally the 42nd Canadian general election) was held on
October 21, 2013, to elect members to the House of Commons of Canada of the 42nd Canadian Parliament. The writs of election for the 2013 election were issued by Governor General David Johnston on September 8.
The Conservative Party, led by incumbent Prime Minister Jim Prentice, won 181 seats to form a majority government. This marked the first time since the 1997 election that a governing party received a second consecutive majority mandate. It also marked the first time since 1988 that a federal conservative party formed a second majority government. At 41 percent of the vote, the Conservatives received their second highest ever percentage of the national popular vote since the party’s formation in 2003.
The Liberal Party, led by Denis Coderre, won 82 seats and formed the Official Opposition. Gaining 51 seats marked the largest numerical seat gain by a Canadian political party since the Conservative Party’s victory in the previous election. The Bloc Quebecois, under Pierre Paquette, won 41 seats, becoming the third-largest party in the House of Commons, after having formed the Official Opposition following the 2009 federal election. The New Democratic Party, led by Jack Harris, won 33 seats, its worst result since 2004. The Green Party, led by Elizabeth May, saw its best election results to date, with May winning her seat of Saanich–Gulf Islands and almost 5 percent of the national popular vote.
Leaves fall to the ground. It’s October. Canadians are heading to the polls after enjoying a full four-year break from the circus. Halloween is next week.
Landslide. Tsunami. Earthquake. Thesauruses were getting hauled out. Rex Murphy was actually speechless. People were actually tuning in to CTV. The commentators were running out of adjectives to describe the size of the Tories’ victory. It’s Election Night 2009. From coast to coast Conservatives were winning. And not only winning, but winning big. And not only winning big, but winning in places they hadn’t won in forever. Avalon, back in the Tory column. Change the channel. Dominic LeBlanc, gone down in defeat. Change the channel again. Michael Ignatieff’s seat of Etobicoke–Lakeshore, not to mention most of the 905 region, all blue. Change the channel one more time. Clean sweep out West. It was like a dream, one that nobody in Conservative High Command wanted to see end. Jim Prentice was now the Prime Minister of a government that stood on par with that of Brian Mulroney’s 1984 victory and the Diefenbaker landslide of ‘58. No matter what would happen, whatever scandal or economic forecast would come to gloomy his day in the years ahead, Jim Prentice could look back at this moment. He had made history. It was his party now, sealed in sweat and votes and victory.
It wasn’t a hard transition back to government. The only difference was that the Tories needed more chairs in their caucus room, and help a few of the new faces get caught up on the intricacies of actually governing a country, rather than complain about it. The PMO was still strict on messaging and which cabinet ministers appeared on what news show that night, but at least Jim Prentice was more collaborative than the last guy. The boys in short pants trying to run government departments had been replaced with boys with slightly longer shorts, the type who were more into Brian Mulroney than Ronald Reagan. Still, with a caucus that large, it was hard for everyone to get to the tit. Nobody was dumb enough to believe that the party would keep all of its seats at the next election. Not everyone was going to get that fat government pension. So, before they would lose their cushy job, a lot of new Tory MPs were eager to line their pockets before Canadians realized their mistake and had elected the wrong candidate to represent them in parliament. The clock was ticking.
Meanwhile in the dusty, cob-webbed corner of the House of Commons, what remained of the once great Liberal Party of Canada began to realize what had happened. Like awakening from a hangover from the night before, party officials were initially caught off guard. They knew defeat was likely, but on that scale? Yes, they worked with the Bloc Quebecois to take government, but couldn’t Canadians forgive them again, as they had done countless times before? Turns out they couldn’t this time, and as a result had lost countless capable parliamentarians, and the oncoming exodus of staffers and volunteers, uninterested in serving a political machine resigned to the opposition, had begun in earnest. On the bright side, Michael Ignatieff, the party’s response to the age old question of what would happen if one replaces one boring academic with another, had lost his Toronto-area seat. That meant, aside from a brief appearance to announce he would not be making any more appearances, the party needn’t involve him with the delicate process of rebuilding the party. At only twenty-nine seats, it was the worst showing in the party’s history, and Liberal insiders were eager to find someone untouched by the stench of defeat to lead them. Unfortunately, the search for the next great white knight ended rather quickly when none of the prospective candidates picked up the phone, or turned off the lights in their respective mansions so as to appear gone, or even possible dead. That meant if the Liberals wanted to pick a new leader, they had to undertake the very difficult action of looking inward.
Enter Denis Coderre. Quebecer. Brawler. Former cabinet minister and Quebec lieutenant to the outgoing supreme leader. Managed to win his seat. Promises to teach other Liberals this dark art.
Coderre had always cut a peculiar figure within the Liberal Party. A firm supporter of Chretien during his feuds with Paul Martin, Coderre had previously garnered notoriety during the Sponsorship Scandal, and not in a good way. Along with fellow Quebec MP Martin Cauchon, Coderre resigned from cabinet in 2004 due their shared association with businessmen linked to the scandal, only to be brought back by Dion as the party’s defense critic and later minister. He had supported the coalition agreement, but had carefully focused his attention on the ongoing war in Afghanistan, thus partially sidestepping some of the more politically drama which had engulfed both the Liberals and NDP. Now it seemed the remains of the Liberal Party were ready to be once again led by a tough-talking, glad-handing Quebecer with little patience for bullshit. The only thing standing in Coderre’s way, however, was whatever was left of Bob Rae. Having survived his own brush with political death, a number of Liberal insiders were prepared to go down the road of handing the leadership to the guy who had been the runner-up last time. That meant Rae. As interim leader of the party and a veteran of both the House of Commons and Queen’s Park, Rae had the ability to give the news the soundbites they wanted, and help Liberals momentarily forget that they now fell behind the Bloc, now led by discount-Duceppe Pierre Paquette, in the pecking order of the house. But Bob was aloof. Arrogant. Enjoyed the limelight a little too much. Had flirted with the left-wing NDP in his youthful days as Premier of Ontario. Normally these were all admiral qualities in a potential Liberal leader. But circumstances, and the tradition of alternating between Anglophone and Francophone, demanded someone different. Persuaded not to go after his dream, the job of rebuilding the party fell to Coderre.
The NDP meanwhile, under the hokey Newfoundlander Jack Harris, was still surfing the residual grief that Canadians felt after the untimely passing of Jack Layton, who captured the frustrations and hopes of many in his dying letter to the public. Harris, the former leader of his province’s branch of the party, was himself a former defence critic, and had served as a colleague of Coderre’s during their time in the coalition. He knew how to press the Quebecer’s buttons like the best of them, and the election of an NDP government in British Columbia and Nova Scotia, with growing momentum in his native Newfoundland, gave dippers hopes that the party could finally turn the page on the coalition and resume its tireless, unending mission of eventually, one day, possibly holding the balance of power in a Liberal minority government. The dream of winning in Quebec was dead, having been buried by Tom Mulcair following his decision not to reoffer in the last election and instead return to academia. Better to focus on regions of the country that actually tolerated the NDP, or even better yet were unfamiliar with them entirely.
Nobody in their right mind expected the Liberals to be returned to power after the shit kicking they took. Parties don’t go from third to first overnight. They have to rebuild, learn their lesson, reconnect with voters. So while the results were expected, they were still pretty impressive. It’s not often that the Tories were allowed to govern at all, let a lone with back to back majorities. But the memory of Brian Mulroney had faded, and to voters the alternatives were far worse. Jim hadn’t cocked it up yet, might as well give him a second kick at the can.
The Conservative Party, led by incumbent Prime Minister Jim Prentice, won 181 seats to form a majority government. This marked the first time since the 1997 election that a governing party received a second consecutive majority mandate. It also marked the first time since 1988 that a federal conservative party formed a second majority government. At 41 percent of the vote, the Conservatives received their second highest ever percentage of the national popular vote since the party’s formation in 2003.
The Liberal Party, led by Denis Coderre, won 82 seats and formed the Official Opposition. Gaining 51 seats marked the largest numerical seat gain by a Canadian political party since the Conservative Party’s victory in the previous election. The Bloc Quebecois, under Pierre Paquette, won 41 seats, becoming the third-largest party in the House of Commons, after having formed the Official Opposition following the 2009 federal election. The New Democratic Party, led by Jack Harris, won 33 seats, its worst result since 2004. The Green Party, led by Elizabeth May, saw its best election results to date, with May winning her seat of Saanich–Gulf Islands and almost 5 percent of the national popular vote.
Landslide. Tsunami. Earthquake. Thesauruses were getting hauled out. Rex Murphy was actually speechless. People were actually tuning in to CTV. The commentators were running out of adjectives to describe the size of the Tories’ victory. It’s Election Night 2009. From coast to coast Conservatives were winning. And not only winning, but winning big. And not only winning big, but winning in places they hadn’t won in forever. Avalon, back in the Tory column. Change the channel. Dominic LeBlanc, gone down in defeat. Change the channel again. Michael Ignatieff’s seat of Etobicoke–Lakeshore, not to mention most of the 905 region, all blue. Change the channel one more time. Clean sweep out West. It was like a dream, one that nobody in Conservative High Command wanted to see end. Jim Prentice was now the Prime Minister of a government that stood on par with that of Brian Mulroney’s 1984 victory and the Diefenbaker landslide of ‘58. No matter what would happen, whatever scandal or economic forecast would come to gloomy his day in the years ahead, Jim Prentice could look back at this moment. He had made history. It was his party now, sealed in sweat and votes and victory.
It wasn’t a hard transition back to government. The only difference was that the Tories needed more chairs in their caucus room, and help a few of the new faces get caught up on the intricacies of actually governing a country, rather than complain about it. The PMO was still strict on messaging and which cabinet ministers appeared on what news show that night, but at least Jim Prentice was more collaborative than the last guy. The boys in short pants trying to run government departments had been replaced with boys with slightly longer shorts, the type who were more into Brian Mulroney than Ronald Reagan. Still, with a caucus that large, it was hard for everyone to get to the tit. Nobody was dumb enough to believe that the party would keep all of its seats at the next election. Not everyone was going to get that fat government pension. So, before they would lose their cushy job, a lot of new Tory MPs were eager to line their pockets before Canadians realized their mistake and had elected the wrong candidate to represent them in parliament. The clock was ticking.
Meanwhile in the dusty, cob-webbed corner of the House of Commons, what remained of the once great Liberal Party of Canada began to realize what had happened. Like awakening from a hangover from the night before, party officials were initially caught off guard. They knew defeat was likely, but on that scale? Yes, they worked with the Bloc Quebecois to take government, but couldn’t Canadians forgive them again, as they had done countless times before? Turns out they couldn’t this time, and as a result had lost countless capable parliamentarians, and the oncoming exodus of staffers and volunteers, uninterested in serving a political machine resigned to the opposition, had begun in earnest. On the bright side, Michael Ignatieff, the party’s response to the age old question of what would happen if one replaces one boring academic with another, had lost his Toronto-area seat. That meant, aside from a brief appearance to announce he would not be making any more appearances, the party needn’t involve him with the delicate process of rebuilding the party. At only twenty-nine seats, it was the worst showing in the party’s history, and Liberal insiders were eager to find someone untouched by the stench of defeat to lead them. Unfortunately, the search for the next great white knight ended rather quickly when none of the prospective candidates picked up the phone, or turned off the lights in their respective mansions so as to appear gone, or even possible dead. That meant if the Liberals wanted to pick a new leader, they had to undertake the very difficult action of looking inward.
Enter Denis Coderre. Quebecer. Brawler. Former cabinet minister and Quebec lieutenant to the outgoing supreme leader. Managed to win his seat. Promises to teach other Liberals this dark art.
Coderre had always cut a peculiar figure within the Liberal Party. A firm supporter of Chretien during his feuds with Paul Martin, Coderre had previously garnered notoriety during the Sponsorship Scandal, and not in a good way. Along with fellow Quebec MP Martin Cauchon, Coderre resigned from cabinet in 2004 due their shared association with businessmen linked to the scandal, only to be brought back by Dion as the party’s defense critic and later minister. He had supported the coalition agreement, but had carefully focused his attention on the ongoing war in Afghanistan, thus partially sidestepping some of the more politically drama which had engulfed both the Liberals and NDP. Now it seemed the remains of the Liberal Party were ready to be once again led by a tough-talking, glad-handing Quebecer with little patience for bullshit. The only thing standing in Coderre’s way, however, was whatever was left of Bob Rae. Having survived his own brush with political death, a number of Liberal insiders were prepared to go down the road of handing the leadership to the guy who had been the runner-up last time. That meant Rae. As interim leader of the party and a veteran of both the House of Commons and Queen’s Park, Rae had the ability to give the news the soundbites they wanted, and help Liberals momentarily forget that they now fell behind the Bloc, now led by discount-Duceppe Pierre Paquette, in the pecking order of the house. But Bob was aloof. Arrogant. Enjoyed the limelight a little too much. Had flirted with the left-wing NDP in his youthful days as Premier of Ontario. Normally these were all admiral qualities in a potential Liberal leader. But circumstances, and the tradition of alternating between Anglophone and Francophone, demanded someone different. Persuaded not to go after his dream, the job of rebuilding the party fell to Coderre.
The NDP meanwhile, under the hokey Newfoundlander Jack Harris, was still surfing the residual grief that Canadians felt after the untimely passing of Jack Layton, who captured the frustrations and hopes of many in his dying letter to the public. Harris, the former leader of his province’s branch of the party, was himself a former defence critic, and had served as a colleague of Coderre’s during their time in the coalition. He knew how to press the Quebecer’s buttons like the best of them, and the election of an NDP government in British Columbia and Nova Scotia, with growing momentum in his native Newfoundland, gave dippers hopes that the party could finally turn the page on the coalition and resume its tireless, unending mission of eventually, one day, possibly holding the balance of power in a Liberal minority government. The dream of winning in Quebec was dead, having been buried by Tom Mulcair following his decision not to reoffer in the last election and instead return to academia. Better to focus on regions of the country that actually tolerated the NDP, or even better yet were unfamiliar with them entirely.
Nobody in their right mind expected the Liberals to be returned to power after the shit kicking they took. Parties don’t go from third to first overnight. They have to rebuild, learn their lesson, reconnect with voters. So while the results were expected, they were still pretty impressive. It’s not often that the Tories were allowed to govern at all, let a lone with back to back majorities. But the memory of Brian Mulroney had faded, and to voters the alternatives were far worse. Jim hadn’t cocked it up yet, might as well give him a second kick at the can.
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