Federal election results reviewed
In the Sudbury & Nickel Belt ridings, the People's Party did better than the national average.
The first election sign that was posted in my neighbourhood.
The last Canadian federal election, held six months ago, showed that Canadian politics are changing and that the upcoming provincial elections may hold similar surprises.
In the last federal election, the Liberals retained both the Sudbury and the Nickel Belt ridings with the NDP coming in second. In that, there was no change from 2019. The interesting changes were in the levels of support that were earned by the political parties.
Compared to 2019, the Liberals lost 4 to 7% of their vote, the NDP’s vote remained flat while the Conservative candidates received 6 -7% increase in support.
The People’s Party of Canada surprised everyone by trebling their vote and they did better here than their national average of 5%. The support for the Greens collapsed, not only in our two ridings but nationally, with them getting 794,867 less votes than two years ago.
Sudbury riding
Vivione Lapointe won the riding for the Liberals.
Party Candidate %age votes %age 2019
Liberals Vivione Lapointe 34% 15,871 41%
NDP Nadia Verrelli 29% 13,569 29%
Conservatives Ian Symington 28% 12,752 21%
People’s Party Colette Methé 6% 2,735 2%
Green David Robinson 2% 967 7%
Independent David Popescu 0% 111 0%
Nickel belt
Marc G. Serrê won the riding for the Liberals.
Party Candidate %age votes %age 2019
Liberals Marc G. Serrê 35% 17,358 39%
NDP Andrêane Simone 27% 13,597 32%
Conservatives Charles Humphrey 27% 13,430 21%
People’s Party David Hobbs 9% 4,549 2%
Green Craig Gravelle 2% 864 5%
The Conservative candidate trailed the second-place NDP candidate by only 167 votes.
Fourth place finish
The People’s Party and the Greens switched places for the fourth and fifth positions.
Anti-mask & vaccine protest in front of Health Sciences North (13 September 2021)
The pandemic created a backlash among a portion of Canadians that were and still are against the government’s public health measures.
The People’s Party candidates for the Sudbury and the Nickel Belt ridings attended local anti-public health rallies to show their support. It is doubtful that the PPC will do as well once the pandemic subsides.
Past political support for the Green Party collapsed during this election both in our two local ridings and across the country. Nationally, the Greens lost 794,867 votes.
Local results
Although the Liberals were re-elected in Sudbury and the Nickel Belt, their support dropped in both ridings while the Conservatives made significant gains. Future contests may well be three-horse races.
My take on this election
Only the People’s Party & the NDP increased their share of votes.
Nationally, the big losers were the Liberals and the Greens while the Conservatives took a bruising. Trudeau went into this election to get a majority government. In that, he failed. Three of his cabinet ministers did not get re-elected.
Supply & Confidence Agreement
Since they could not get a majority they wanted from the voters, in March 2022, the Liberals struck a deal with the federal NDP. The supply and confidence agreement will last until the end 2025. What this means is that even though the Liberals have a minority in the house, they can function with predictability and stability, present and implement budgets without fear of being defeated in a non-confidence vote.
The knives came out
Green Party
The public infighting among the Green leadership started before the election. That’s something new. Most parties wait until after the election before attacking their leader.
Annamie Paul, the leader of the Greens resigned as the leader of the Greens and will no longer be a member. Amita Kuttner has served as the interim party leader since 24 November 2021.
Beverly Eert, a former member of the party's federal council, is taking current and former members of the party's Ombuds and Appeal Committee to court for defamation.
According to the latest numbers released by the party's financial arm, the Greens have lost 1,722 monthly donors since January 2020 — 499 since July. The report also says the party has lost roughly 6,259 members since July. Membership in the Greens stood at 35,000 nearly a year ago, after the party's last leadership race.
Conservatives
Shortly after the election, Erin O’Toole told reporters that he should be blamed for the Conservative loss. The Party lost two seats and 492,000 votes.
The attacks to remove him started shortly after the election and O’Toole hung in until 02 February 2022. He was ousted as leader in a secret vote by Conservative MPs by a margin of 73 votes to 45.
So both the Conservatives and the Greens will hold leadership conventions.
People’s Party of Canada
Maxime Bernier, the founder, President and leader of The People’s Party is not facing a challenge to his leadership.
The party did surprising well. Support in the individual ridings were too low for them to elect a single candidate but some PPC candidates finishing second in the ridings they contested and the PPC may have cost the Conservatives up to ten ridings.
In my opinion, they will hang around for at least one more election before either fading away or uniting with the Conservatives.