Well i'm done a particularly important part of my life, mainly final exams, organising a formal and graduating from secondary school. I'm terribly sorry to have missed writing in may but I will continue as best I can.
The month of June saw two elections return the incumbent governments; the one in Manitoba saw a strengthened majority for Gary Doer's New Democratic Party while the Porgressive Conservative Party of Bernard Lord won a diminished majority in the general provincial elections in New Brunswick.
The west has been the seeds of many a reformist parties, both right and left: the Reform Party the Social Credit and the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation. The last one, the CCF was renamed the New Democratic Party in 1961 when it merged with the Canadian Labour Congress. The CCF had formed the first Socialist government in any North American jurisdiction when it won the 1944 Saskatchewan election.
The NDP have been popular in Manitoba as they have been able to bring in social change as well as being fiscally responsible. Gary Doer has done things in Manitoba that Bob Rae in Ontario or (pick a name) in British Columbia have been unable to do, make the social policies of the New Democratic Party work.
The 3rd of June the mice of Manitoba went to the polls and were able to choose between the Grits the Tories and the Dippers. The NDP came ahead with a party record 35 seats and 49% of the popular vote. The Progressive Conservative Party will form the Queen's Loyal opposition in the prairie Province with 20 seats (36% of the vote). Stuart Murray will be leader of the opposition. The Liberals came in a distant third with only 2 seats (13% of the vote). Liberal leader Jon Gerrard was among the two elected to the Manitoba Legislative Assembly.
In New Brunswick Bernard Lord is an extremely popular guy, and with progressive conservatives he had previously been seen as a possible candidate for the leadership of the federal party but he turned away from the chance letting Peter McKay win the leadership bid. The NB election was an election where one issue dominated the debate: rising car insurance rates. Bernard Lord and his Tories misjudged the importance of the issue until it was too late in the election campaign to keep their large majority.
The difference between a majority government in NB and a minority government was 18 votes in the riding of Kennebecasis. The Tories held on to the seat giving them a one-seat majority. On June 9th, the Tories were elected in 28 ridings (45% of the vote) while Shawn Michael Graham's Liberals won 26 seats (44% of the vote), and Elizabeth Jane Meir won the lone NDP riding while the party garnered 10% of the vote.
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