I can only speak about where I am from and Harper's leadership will benefit MY city and MY province. I do not pretend to know what is best for Alberta as I have never been there and have no intention of going, my province relies on industrial business in order to prosper. Harper will be the one to solidify our relations with our US nieghbors and will interact well with both President Bush and Tony Blair.

The healthcare system I do not believe will suffer as badly as you think, we are a long way away from a US style system.

As for student issues these rate very low in my personal politics as I am professionally established, I hope this clears up the way I think for you. These are the items that I weighed up when I checked my ballot, I am sure you had your reasons for yours as well.

You don't have a social security system? How come your elderly don't starve to death.

I concur.

We have the Canada Pension Plan, it is pretty much the same thing

I guess that's it then, we just have COMPLETELY different views on what's important and what's not. Looking on the bright side, hopefully harper will live up to the conservative reputation, and do good for the country financially. Since it is a minority government, i'm hoping the liberals and ndp's can keep him in check and prevent him from doing too much damage (well, what I'd consider damage) to our healthcare, education, social programs and environmental programs. Maybe after a few years, the liberals will get their act together, and reform as a party with someone who can be a good leader, because I do agree with you that martin was by no means a good alternative to harper.

I agree with you that a minority government is a good thing, I just hope that it is a short transition period and they can come to some quick resolutions instead of long arduous bitch sessions

yeah, hopefully it won't be like the last minority government with the liberals in power, that was just a complete waste.

I agree, it was a fiasco

although when you think about it, theoretically, a minority government is probably the most fair and equal representation of the country, as long as the different parties can learn to actually work together and get things done. A huge number of european governments work very well on minority government systems, so hopefully we'll eventually stumble across a configuration where the parties can actually work towards something without letting their own egotistical power trips get in the way.

that is the way I see it as well, perhaps we should have covered this in our first conversations to establish some common ground