Warren Kinsella is happy about the Alberta election results. Sure, the Tories dropped a bunch of seats, dropped a huge chunk of the popular vote, while the Libs and NDP gained. But look carefully at the popular vote:
2004:
PC 47.07%
LIB 29.05%
NDP 9.79%
AAP 9.10%
GRN 2.75%
SC 1.27%
OTH .97%
Here’s the popular vote from 2001:
PC 61.91%
Liberal 27.33%
NDP 8.03%
Alberta First Party
0.87%
Social Credit 3.22%
Alberta Greens 0.28
So, of the 15 point drop in King Ralph’s share of popular support, 9 points have gone straight to the Alberta Alliance, a party even more right-wing, and crypto-separatist, than the Tories. Almost three percent goes to the Greens, who (according to Annette) are as reactionary and pro-market as the Tories. That leaves an increase of three or four points split between the Libs and NDP.
Note, also, that the Alliance has almost identical polling as the NDP, but one seat to the dippers four.
To flog the horse once more: This is why I’m afraid of proportional representation.