Vote Sucessfully Split
Tue Jan 24 1:00:04 2006 EST (-0500 GMT)
DISTRICT: St. Catharines
Rick Dykstra CON 21668 37.46% X
Walt Lastewka LIB 21424 37.04%
Jeff Burch NDP 11849 20.48%
A year ago I called Walt Lastewka’s office and asked him to vote for gay marriage. The person working the phone assured me that St. Catharines was on the right of that issue. I’ll admit to not growing up in St. Catharines, but I thought that rights are for all couples. I thought this was Niagara not Alberta. He assured me this wasn’t the case.
Walt Lastewka did not win by the same majority as last time because of the problems the Liberal party had: Gomery, etc. Walt Lastewka lost, while other Ontario Liberal MPs held their seats, because of that issue. The gay community alone could account for his loss, let alone civil and human rights voters such as myself.
Canada now moves forward with another minority parliament. A parliament must serve all Canadians and it’s harder to do without representation from the majority of Canadians. The NDP and Jack Layton will be there to represent the rest of Canadians, especially as Mr. Martin steps down. I predict the left will be better represented under Stephen Harper than any other time in the last decade. That said, I’ve been wrong before, I thought Paul Martin would live up to his promise to Bono.
I thank the two departing Liberals for their contribution to Canadian democracy – it’s far more than I’ve made. I hope (semi)retirement finds them in good health. I’ll put the soap box away for a while now.