2021 Canadian general election - Election Day and Results

[The Right Honourable Martin Brian Mulroney PC CC GOQ]

I mean, I think the question for the CPC at this point is clear and quite binary - keep O'Toole, or ditch O'Toole. I would like to see them keep O'Toole, because although I ultimately voted Liberal, I was pretty happy with a lot of what I heard from him this campaign. But by any objective metric, this was a failure on his part - sure, the CPC didn't crater as hard as was expected before the election call, and Trudeau has been held to a minority (although the Bloc probably had more effect to that end). But pre-writ polls don't really matter, the expectations set during the writ period do. When a leader tries to steer the party to a different direction, a direction which many members were not comfortable with, and it gets them nowhere, it has to be seen as a failure. The question is whether or not he deserves a second kick at the can. But that depends on how exactly the CPC caucus and membership are feeling right now, which is not very clear yet.

[politicallefty]

On a different note, I found the Conservative's big drop in Alberta to be quite interesting. It seems like a lot of people are mentioning Jason Kenney and the pandemic, which makes sense. It's probably also worth noting the Conservatives no longer have a leader from Western Canada. In a lot of seats, particularly the rural ones, a good portion appears to have gone to the PPC, but nowhere close to make anything a race. In fact, they seem to have got 2nd place in a number of rural Alberta seats. On the other hand, the PPC was pretty much at its national average in Edmonton and Calgary.

I also found some of the Calgary results to be quite interesting (specifically, the four least Conservative seats), particularly comparing this year with both 2019 and 2015. Comparing from 2015 to 2019 to 2021:

Calgary Skyview LPC+6.1% - CPC+24.1% - LPC+7.1%
Calgary Centre LPC+1.2% - CPC+29.7% - CPC+22.0%
Calgary Confederation CPC+2.4% - CPC+32.5% - CPC+18.3%
Calgary Forest Lawn CPC+12.0% - CPC+37.9% - CPC+16.9%

Those first two in 2015 were the first Liberal seats in Calgary since 1968. Obviously, it's clear that Alberta was seething in 2019 and took their rage out accordingly. I'm assuming the Liberals won Calgary Skyview because of it's large minority/Asian population. I couldn't find any data, but I'm guessing that's what also swung Calgary Forest Lawn so much as well. What's the reason the Liberals couldn't get a foothold back in Calgary Centre?

I also think Edmonton was quite interesting in its results. Both the Liberals and NDP should be quite happy there. The Liberals regained Edmonton Centre and the NDP won a second seat in Alberta for the first time ever (interestingly Edmonton Griesbach is the successor to the old Edmonton East the NDP won in 1988). The NDP also appears to have really locked down Edmonton Strathcona. And, despite getting third place in Edmonton Centre, they were less than 5% behind first, a legit 3-way race. Using the same format as above (although a little trickier as Edmonton is a 3-party city, unlike Calgary):

Edmonton Strathcona NDP+12.7% - NDP+10.2% - NDP+34.0%
Edmonton Griesbach CPC+5.9% - CPC+26.2% - NDP+3.4%
Edmonton Centre LPC+2.2% - CPC+8.4% - LPC+1.2%
Edmonton Mill Woods LPC+0.18% - CPC+16.7% - CPC+3.6%

[Leading Political Consultant Ma Anand Sheela]

Ultimately O'Toole's problem is that, much like Singh in 2019, he only grounds on which he can really credibly stay on for another election is by pointing to the CPC's terrible pre-campaign polling and saying 'look, I dug us out of the hole' - which does raise the question of why the party was in such a hole when he was running it in the first place. And, unlike in the NDP, we can be certain someone will ask that question.

This is regrettable because everyone waiting in the wings to succeed O'Toole appears to be a lunatic of some sort, and because his friend-to-all-humans snake-oil salesman act was hilarious and I'd have liked to see more of it.

[Хahar 🤔]

I also think Edmonton was quite interesting in its results. Both the Liberals and NDP should be quite happy there. The Liberals regained Edmonton Centre and the NDP won a second seat in Alberta for the first time ever (interestingly Edmonton Griesbach is the successor to the old Edmonton East the NDP won in 1988). The NDP also appears to have really locked down Edmonton Strathcona. And, despite getting third place in Edmonton Centre, they were less than 5% behind first, a legit 3-way race. Using the same format as above (although a little trickier as Edmonton is a 3-party city, unlike Calgary):

Edmonton Strathcona NDP+12.7% - NDP+10.2% - NDP+34.0%
Edmonton Griesbach CPC+5.9% - CPC+26.2% - NDP+3.4%
Edmonton Centre LPC+2.2% - CPC+8.4% - LPC+1.2%
Edmonton Mill Woods LPC+0.18% - CPC+16.7% - CPC+3.6%

I really don't think that these Edmonton results are good news for the Liberals at all. Centre and Mill Woods were the two ridings in the city that the Liberals targeted (naturally, since those were the two they won in 2015) and they made a serious effort in both of them. In neither riding did they meaningfully improve their own share of the vote; for all the work that the Liberal campaign put in, both ridings experienced a straight CPC to NDP swing. In Centre the drop in the Conservative vote was enough to deliver the seat to the Liberals, but voters clearly did not believe that the Liberals were the only non-Conservative option, and come next election Randy Boissonnault will have to defend his seat from both ends. In Mill Woods the NDP candidate did not do nearly as well, but as a result the Conservative vote failed to drop far enough for the Liberal candidate to pick up the seat. Again, this is not a result that is suggestive of any real Liberal strength.

The provincial NDP was much more active in this campaign than in past federal election campaigns, and it seems that at least in Edmonton it hurt federal Liberals that the Alberta Liberal Party is now truly dead. Alberta has never really had a New Democratic tradition, but maybe now one is being invented.

[Leading Political Consultant Ma Anand Sheela]

I also think Edmonton was quite interesting in its results. Both the Liberals and NDP should be quite happy there. The Liberals regained Edmonton Centre and the NDP won a second seat in Alberta for the first time ever (interestingly Edmonton Griesbach is the successor to the old Edmonton East the NDP won in 1988). The NDP also appears to have really locked down Edmonton Strathcona. And, despite getting third place in Edmonton Centre, they were less than 5% behind first, a legit 3-way race. Using the same format as above (although a little trickier as Edmonton is a 3-party city, unlike Calgary):

Edmonton Strathcona NDP+12.7% - NDP+10.2% - NDP+34.0%
Edmonton Griesbach CPC+5.9% - CPC+26.2% - NDP+3.4%
Edmonton Centre LPC+2.2% - CPC+8.4% - LPC+1.2%
Edmonton Mill Woods LPC+0.18% - CPC+16.7% - CPC+3.6%

I really don't think that these Edmonton results are good news for the Liberals at all. Centre and Mill Woods were the two ridings in the city that the Liberals targeted (naturally, since those were the two they won in 2015) and they made a serious effort in both of them. In neither riding did they meaningfully improve their own share of the vote; for all the work that the Liberal campaign put in, both ridings experienced a straight CPC to NDP swing. In Centre the drop in the Conservative vote was enough to deliver the seat to the Liberals, but voters clearly did not believe that the Liberals were the only non-Conservative option, and come next election Randy Boissonnault will have to defend his seat from both ends. In Mill Woods the NDP candidate did not do nearly as well, but as a result the Conservative vote failed to drop far enough for the Liberal candidate to pick up the seat. Again, this is not a result that is suggestive of any real Liberal strength.

The provincial NDP was much more active in this campaign than in past federal election campaigns, and it seems that at least in Edmonton it hurt federal Liberals that the Alberta Liberal Party is now truly dead. Alberta has never really had a New Democratic tradition, but maybe now one is being invented.

And Boissonnault's performance, coupled with the strong NDP third place and their results in the rest of Edmonton, does not really suggest a seat that would have gone Liberal in the absence of a candidate who was already a relatively recognisable face in the area.

[adma]

You talk about a network of routes between Point A and Point B; what is Point B for the NDP? How exactly are their current leader and electoral strategy advancing them toward it? It doesn't appear to be by winning votes. If the election was a success because all the NDP candidates got valuable experience running an election campaign, well, the NDP runs a full slate at every election. By that standard, every election is a success for the NDP because it participates so fully in the democratic process. Maybe that's the purpose of the NDP, but I'd like to think there's something more. There certainly seemed to be something more when Jack Layton was leader.

However, would you say that about Jack Layton had 2011 not happened?  After all, it caught even *them* unaware--behind Jack's bold talk, they were preparing for the same old incremental gains.

And re the "what is Point B" question: besides the "network of routes" argument, let's also look at a "network of purposes" argument, and also beyond the notion that everything *between* that Point A and Point B is a void, a no-man's land, something that's only there to be traversed.  Or even the macro-vs-micro subtleties behind what Point B is.

So, in the case of a mythological "Mother Road" like Route 66, one might argue that if Chicago is Point A, Santa Monica is Point B.  And even if one doesn't make that full traverse, one who's aware of that mythology knows *of* the Point B in question, which lends a "meaningful" quality to traversing segments of the route, including those that have been bypassed by the Interstate and presently serve as little more than local roads.

Or because we're talking about Canada...well, the Trans-Canada.  Again, one is not bound to the full Newfoundland-to-BC traverse--and heck, one isn't even bound to the strict present-day routing, even if one is *aware* of its nearby presence.  Like, driving through the centres of various bypassed towns, or opting for the "old route" of 1A over the present-day T-C btw/Calgary & Banff--or simply the awareness that one *could* do so--can make things more enriching.  (Or conversely, actually *opting* for the Trans-Canada btw/Kamloops and Hope, as opposed to the faster-and-more-boring Coquihalla.)  And all along, one knows that the Trans-Canada is *there*, as a symbolic bond.

So rather than asking "what is Point B?", don't look at it in strict dumb "GPS coordinate and Siri guiding you along a designated route" terms.

Though I will say this about the US electoral system: psephologically speaking, it often works out more "interestingly" in a Canadian fashion at a party-primary level.  (By comparison, Canada doesn't have primaries--candidates are chosen by local committees or by party central.)

[adma]

Those first two in 2015 were the first Liberal seats in Calgary since 1968. Obviously, it's clear that Alberta was seething in 2019 and took their rage out accordingly. I'm assuming the Liberals won Calgary Skyview because of it's large minority/Asian population. I couldn't find any data, but I'm guessing that's what also swung Calgary Forest Lawn so much as well. What's the reason the Liberals couldn't get a foothold back in Calgary Centre?

Lack of supertargeting infrastructure this time; plus, lack of the same demographic mix.  *And*, lack of a PPC candidate to split the vote.

Edmonton-Mill Woods, of course, benefited from those same Lib-favouring demographics.

[adma]

Ultimately O'Toole's problem is that, much like Singh in 2019, he only grounds on which he can really credibly stay on for another election is by pointing to the CPC's terrible pre-campaign polling and saying 'look, I dug us out of the hole' - which does raise the question of why the party was in such a hole when he was running it in the first place. And, unlike in the NDP, we can be certain someone will ask that question.

This is regrettable because everyone waiting in the wings to succeed O'Toole appears to be a lunatic of some sort, and because his friend-to-all-humans snake-oil salesman act was hilarious and I'd have liked to see more of it.

One must say that there's been a particularly strong and vicious pattern over the years of the Conservatives "asking that question", or something similar re its leadership, which perhaps comes w/the taste of power--think of the psychodrama attached to Dief in the 60s, or Joe Clark in the 80s, or Stockwell Day this century.  While the only *real* time that's happened w/the NDP is w/Mulcair--the only leader with which they *entered* an election tasting power, and lost a significant quotient of seats in the bargain...

[warandwar]

Yes to all of the above; also general unionization would be high I think from public sector workers (Victoria the BC capital being on the island) General west coast progressive-old hippie, new young "woke" vibe. Environmentalists and a solid Indigenous community.

Yes this is all there as well, though has been as liable to help (once) Liberal and (now) Green candidates as Dippers. But it all adds up to a landscape in which, for once, the NDP often benefit as the comparatively middle of the road option between relative extremes, at least on the sort of issues that are particularly sensitive on the Island...

Outside of Victoria, is Vancouver Islands population still more working class than hippies/migrants from urban areas?

Yes, and a lot of those hippies are working class.

[adma]

I really don't think that these Edmonton results are good news for the Liberals at all. Centre and Mill Woods were the two ridings in the city that the Liberals targeted (naturally, since those were the two they won in 2015) and they made a serious effort in both of them. In neither riding did they meaningfully improve their own share of the vote; for all the work that the Liberal campaign put in, both ridings experienced a straight CPC to NDP swing. In Centre the drop in the Conservative vote was enough to deliver the seat to the Liberals, but voters clearly did not believe that the Liberals were the only non-Conservative option, and come next election Randy Boissonnault will have to defend his seat from both ends. In Mill Woods the NDP candidate did not do nearly as well, but as a result the Conservative vote failed to drop far enough for the Liberal candidate to pick up the seat. Again, this is not a result that is suggestive of any real Liberal strength.

The provincial NDP was much more active in this campaign than in past federal election campaigns, and it seems that at least in Edmonton it hurt federal Liberals that the Alberta Liberal Party is now truly dead. Alberta has never really had a New Democratic tradition, but maybe now one is being invented.

And Boissonnault's performance, coupled with the strong NDP third place and their results in the rest of Edmonton, does not really suggest a seat that would have gone Liberal in the absence of a candidate who was already a relatively recognisable face in the area.

Actually, one might argue that in the 1980s, Alberta had the federal rudiments of a "New Democratic tradition", in that echoing much of the West in those years the NDP served as the primary ballot-box opposition (even if it was only good for a single-term seat in 1988).

Plus re Edmonton Centre, given said strong NDP 3rd place, there's a reasonable likelihood that the Boissonnault vote would have shifted in *that* direction in his absence.  So it's not like it would have stayed within the Conservative fold w/o Boissonnault...

[lilTommy]

Yes to all of the above; also general unionization would be high I think from public sector workers (Victoria the BC capital being on the island) General west coast progressive-old hippie, new young "woke" vibe. Environmentalists and a solid Indigenous community.

Yes this is all there as well, though has been as liable to help (once) Liberal and (now) Green candidates as Dippers. But it all adds up to a landscape in which, for once, the NDP often benefit as the comparatively middle of the road option between relative extremes, at least on the sort of issues that are particularly sensitive on the Island...

Outside of Victoria, is Vancouver Islands population still more working class than hippies/migrants from urban areas?

Yes, and a lot of those hippies are working class.

Effectively the more North you go, the further from the Capital region the, more the region shifts into resources based working class. The CPC is the main opposition to the NDP on the island, particularly in Courtney-Alberni and North Island-Powell River, but pretty much everywhere now. Saanich Green vote is more a May vote now but is really their base of support, amongst more affluent older voters. The Greens have dropped down to their mostly 3rd or 4th place even in Nanaimo-Ladysmith

[Bernie Derangement Syndrome Haver]

Has there ever been so few seat changes in Quebec?

We're talking one confirmed, and maybe two, seat changes (Châteauguay-Lacolle flipped Liberal to Bloc, and Brome-Missisquoi could flip the same way, but it hasn't been called yet with the Bloc narrowly leading).

1-2 seat changes seems completely unheard of, at least in recent elections, for such an unpredictable and volatile province that is subject to massive swings.

[MaxQue]

Has there ever been so few seat changes in Quebec?

We're talking one confirmed, and maybe two, seat changes (Châteauguay-Lacolle flipped Liberal to Bloc, and Brome-Missisquoi could flip the same way, but it hasn't been called yet with the Bloc narrowly leading).

1-2 seat changes seems completely unheard of, at least in recent elections, for such an unpredictable and volatile province that is subject to massive swings.

Not surprising, considering the popular vote.

Liberal 33.5% (-0.8 )
Bloc 32.1% (-0.3)
Conservative 18,7% (+2.7)
NDP 9.8% (-1.0)
PPC 2.7% (+1.2)
Green 1.5% (-3.0)

[The Right Honourable Martin Brian Mulroney PC CC GOQ]

On a different note, I found the Conservative's big drop in Alberta to be quite interesting. It seems like a lot of people are mentioning Jason Kenney and the pandemic, which makes sense. It's probably also worth noting the Conservatives no longer have a leader from Western Canada. In a lot of seats, particularly the rural ones, a good portion appears to have gone to the PPC, but nowhere close to make anything a race. In fact, they seem to have got 2nd place in a number of rural Alberta seats. On the other hand, the PPC was pretty much at its national average in Edmonton and Calgary.

I also found some of the Calgary results to be quite interesting (specifically, the four least Conservative seats), particularly comparing this year with both 2019 and 2015. Comparing from 2015 to 2019 to 2021:

Calgary Skyview LPC+6.1% - CPC+24.1% - LPC+7.1%
Calgary Centre LPC+1.2% - CPC+29.7% - CPC+22.0%
Calgary Confederation CPC+2.4% - CPC+32.5% - CPC+18.3%
Calgary Forest Lawn CPC+12.0% - CPC+37.9% - CPC+16.9%

Those first two in 2015 were the first Liberal seats in Calgary since 1968. Obviously, it's clear that Alberta was seething in 2019 and took their rage out accordingly. I'm assuming the Liberals won Calgary Skyview because of it's large minority/Asian population. I couldn't find any data, but I'm guessing that's what also swung Calgary Forest Lawn so much as well. What's the reason the Liberals couldn't get a foothold back in Calgary Centre?

I also think Edmonton was quite interesting in its results. Both the Liberals and NDP should be quite happy there. The Liberals regained Edmonton Centre and the NDP won a second seat in Alberta for the first time ever (interestingly Edmonton Griesbach is the successor to the old Edmonton East the NDP won in 1988). The NDP also appears to have really locked down Edmonton Strathcona. And, despite getting third place in Edmonton Centre, they were less than 5% behind first, a legit 3-way race. Using the same format as above (although a little trickier as Edmonton is a 3-party city, unlike Calgary):

Edmonton Strathcona NDP+12.7% - NDP+10.2% - NDP+34.0%
Edmonton Griesbach CPC+5.9% - CPC+26.2% - NDP+3.4%
Edmonton Centre LPC+2.2% - CPC+8.4% - LPC+1.2%
Edmonton Mill Woods LPC+0.18% - CPC+16.7% - CPC+3.6%

I think the 2021 Liberal vote in Alberta shows the effect that the increased immigrant population is having. All four Calgary ridings you mentioned had a CON-LIB swing, but the greatest was in majority-minority Skyview, and the second-greatest was in Forest Lawn which also has a bigger immigrant/minority population than Confederation and Centre. Although Centre's relatively small swing might be down to the fact that the PPC did not run a candidate there unlike the other three, removing the vote split factor.

In Edmonton, it's clear that the dominance of the AB NDP is having coattails, and helped them win Griesbach and come real close to taking Centre. As for the Liberals, Mill Woods was seen by many as the second-likeliest flip Liberal in Alberta, and is in some ways Edmonton's answer to Skyview. Indeed, like the Skyview vs Centre split in Calgary, ethno-burban Mill Woods did shift Liberal harder than Centre, but it wasn't enough. I think this might be down to the fact that Amarjeet Sohi didn't run again, and Ben Henderson didn't have the same personal vote.

[warandwar]

Yes to all of the above; also general unionization would be high I think from public sector workers (Victoria the BC capital being on the island) General west coast progressive-old hippie, new young "woke" vibe. Environmentalists and a solid Indigenous community.

Yes this is all there as well, though has been as liable to help (once) Liberal and (now) Green candidates as Dippers. But it all adds up to a landscape in which, for once, the NDP often benefit as the comparatively middle of the road option between relative extremes, at least on the sort of issues that are particularly sensitive on the Island...

Outside of Victoria, is Vancouver Islands population still more working class than hippies/migrants from urban areas?

Yes, and a lot of those hippies are working class.

Effectively the more North you go, the further from the Capital region the, more the region shifts into resources based working class. The CPC is the main opposition to the NDP on the island, particularly in Courtney-Alberni and North Island-Powell River, but pretty much everywhere now. Saanich Green vote is more a May vote now but is really their base of support, amongst more affluent older voters. The Greens have dropped down to their mostly 3rd or 4th place even in Nanaimo-Ladysmith

Things are skewed in the Islands, but i feel like there the hippies and draft dodgers are the working class, compared to some of the giant houses you see out there!

[DistingFlyer]

Am finally able to connect with the world again, and damn was this a disappointment all-round.

Perhaps it was a good thing I couldn't see the results live, as I missed seeing my hopes raised early in the night by some good Tory pickups on the east coast (though no New Democrat gains there, including a near-miss in my own riding of Halifax).

I'd said in the earlier 2021 election thread, 'Party like it's 1965' - perhaps the most accurate prediction I've ever made!

[King of Kensington]

So Souris-Moose Mountain was the top Conservative riding.

[StateBoiler]

You talk about a network of routes between Point A and Point B; what is Point B for the NDP? How exactly are their current leader and electoral strategy advancing them toward it? It doesn't appear to be by winning votes. If the election was a success because all the NDP candidates got valuable experience running an election campaign, well, the NDP runs a full slate at every election. By that standard, every election is a success for the NDP because it participates so fully in the democratic process. Maybe that's the purpose of the NDP, but I'd like to think there's something more. There certainly seemed to be something more when Jack Layton was leader.

However, would you say that about Jack Layton had 2011 not happened?  After all, it caught even *them* unaware--behind Jack's bold talk, they were preparing for the same old incremental gains.

And re the "what is Point B" question: besides the "network of routes" argument, let's also look at a "network of purposes" argument, and also beyond the notion that everything *between* that Point A and Point B is a void, a no-man's land, something that's only there to be traversed.  Or even the macro-vs-micro subtleties behind what Point B is.

So, in the case of a mythological "Mother Road" like Route 66, one might argue that if Chicago is Point A, Santa Monica is Point B.  And even if one doesn't make that full traverse, one who's aware of that mythology knows *of* the Point B in question, which lends a "meaningful" quality to traversing segments of the route, including those that have been bypassed by the Interstate and presently serve as little more than local roads.

Or because we're talking about Canada...well, the Trans-Canada.  Again, one is not bound to the full Newfoundland-to-BC traverse--and heck, one isn't even bound to the strict present-day routing, even if one is *aware* of its nearby presence.  Like, driving through the centres of various bypassed towns, or opting for the "old route" of 1A over the present-day T-C btw/Calgary & Banff--or simply the awareness that one *could* do so--can make things more enriching.  (Or conversely, actually *opting* for the Trans-Canada btw/Kamloops and Hope, as opposed to the faster-and-more-boring Coquihalla.)  And all along, one knows that the Trans-Canada is *there*, as a symbolic bond.

So rather than asking "what is Point B?", don't look at it in strict dumb "GPS coordinate and Siri guiding you along a designated route" terms.

Though I will say this about the US electoral system: psephologically speaking, it often works out more "interestingly" in a Canadian fashion at a party-primary level.  (By comparison, Canada doesn't have primaries--candidates are chosen by local committees or by party central.)

If you voted or had a vote in Tom Mulcair's leadership review, did you vote in favor of Mulcair or against?

The whole "trying to dodge this discussion" I get it, but the party forcibly threw out their leader for a poor election result 5 years ago and you're now attempting to make the case "election results don't matter" for a guy that could easily be given a pass for a poor result in 2019, but not making any headway at all the 2nd time around. Uh yeah, the party voted at convention election results did matter ousting Mulcair. That's recent history by Canadian political standards. Even if it was just an excuse because some party members didn't like the rightward turn of the party, that was still the excuse.

If the NDP wants to keep him because they like him, fine, it's their party, but $20 says they don't win more than 40 seats next federal election.

[DistingFlyer]

Are any official/final tallies available anywhere yet? Can only find on Elections Canada's website a downloadable list of which ridings have finished counting, as opposed to the final results in those ridings.

EDIT: Turns out the old 2019 link still works (http://enr.elections.ca/DownloadResults.aspx); no completed counts yet, though.

[Epaminondas]

Will the Bloc win their 35th riding in Brome-Missisquoi today?

[MaxQue]

Will the Bloc win their 35th riding in Brome-Missisquoi today?

As they are currently leading there, it would be 34th.

[DL]

If you voted or had a vote in Tom Mulcair's leadership review, did you vote in favor of Mulcair or against?

I voted to get rid of Mulcair in 2016 and I am not at all from the left of the NDP. There is a myth that Mulcair was dumped for ideological reasons because the left of the party didn't approve of his centrist position. That is part of the story, but only part. The thing about Mulcair is that there was something about him to dislike no matter what faction of the NDP you came from. Leftists didn't like how he was obsessed with balancing the budget and praised Margaret Thatcher. More pragmatic New Democrats from Alberta dropped him like a hot potato after he said on the eve of that convention that he would be willing to "leave all Alberta's oil in the ground". More moderate, pragmatic NDPers from the rest of the country were nauseated by his utter incompetence, poor execution and how he constantly went off message and misread the mood of the country.

On top of that, we cannot ignore personal issues. Almost everyone in the NDP likes Jagmeet Singh personally and he seems to build a lot of personal loyalty among staff and caucus. Mulcair by all accounts was a total asshole and was notorious for having temper tantrums and hurling computer monitors at staff. No one liked the guy at all on a personal level and that makes a big difference when you need people to work to help you survive a leadership challenge.

Even after all those factors, I was open to giving Mulcair another chance because replacing a leader is an expensive hassle. But rather than acknowledging that mistakes were made in the 2015 campaign and pledging to do better - Mulcair was chippy and defensive and refused to acknowledge that anything had to be changed. Then he gave this dreadful speech to the convention that was just a rehash of his stump speech from the election campaign. Totally the wrong speech to give to this audience. That sealed it for me. I decided "this dog cannot hunt"

[Leading Political Consultant Ma Anand Sheela]

hurling computer monitors at staff.

Excuse me, what

[warandwar]

Mulclair's post leadership career is pretty vengeful and disgraceful as well. Nasty person all around.

[KaiserDave]

Mulclair's post leadership career is pretty vengeful and disgraceful as well. Nasty person all around.

Complete malarkey. Not to mention that Mulcair has been right from the beginning about Singh being terrible at his job.


Although I agree with the sentiment that was very very bad at electoral politics, and deserved to be removed.