Witness to the democratic voice
The polls on the Island closed about three hours ago, and I’ve been an indulgent media junkie ever since. Two, sometimes three web browser windows open, the TV tuned first to Newsworld and then to the streamed feed out of Charlottetown, even a quick look at the Guardian and the definitive PEI blogroll, just to make sure of the details. The people have spoken, and the tide has changed. A new government for the Island, for the next four years and a bit.
My access to realtime results after an election has never been better. To be fair, this is an exercise in living vicariously, because I didn’t vote. I would have if I’d been there.
Proportional representation still merits discussion (and implementation). The Red Tide that has rolled over the Blue Tide doesn’t properly reflect the desires of the population. If we were to populate the Legislative Assembly chairs using the vote count from this evening, the distribution of seats would be more along the lines of 15-11-2 instead of 23-4 but that’s moot point right now. In the next week or so, the tone of government will change a bit, the blog fever will return to other subjects and the Island will see whether the change on the nameplates actually means anything.
There is some new blood coming in. The benefit of an election is that the newcomers come with a few new ideas to drop on the meeting tables. The amount of money available to set policy will be the same. The Can Ban will disappear, and summer vacation will raise the good will levels of all.
In passing, why don’t we erase the accumulated debts of our provincial governments in the way that banks do with foreign countries? Just a thought. The Polar Foods debacle, all by itself, added 31 million to the wrong side of the balance sheet. Scale that number up (by population) to a province like Quebec and you would have 1.6 billion in new debt. Talk about instant millionaires. I’m still a landowner on the Island, so irresponsible actions are important to me. I plan to move back home in a few years, and that new debt will not have miraculously disappeared. However, tonight is an appeal to optimism. There is change in the air. Or at least, there’s proof that we don’t have to wait for the monarch to abdicate or die to get a new face on the coins posters.
