* sigh *

Okay, so everywhere I look, I see this '62% of Canadians didn't vote Conservative - Coalition for Change!!' yadda yadda.

Yes, it is true, 62.4% of Canadians did not vote for the Conservatives.

But if people want to throw around that statistic, then they should also throw these around too:

73.8% of Canadians did NOT vote Liberal

81.8% of Canadians did NOT vote NDP

and just for fun, 90% of Canadians did NOT vote Bloc Quebecois

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So what does any of that have to do with anything?
Want some more stats?
I am using the official website for my tallies, by the way, just in case you are wondering where I picked these numbers from. http://enr.elections.ca/National_e.aspx
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So, only 37.6% of Canadians voted Conservative. Okay, but I have seen the stat thrown around that 54.4% of Canadians voted for the Lib NDP and PQ combined. Yes, they did - BUT they voted for those parties SEPARATELY, not combined. There was no 'coalition' box to tick on the ballot forms.

Are we to assume that all 54.4% of those voters would be in favour of the coalition? Recent polls released via various news agencies suggest that 60% of Canadians are NOT in favour of a coalition party. No, that was not a Canada-wide vote and it may very well be a meaningless poll/survey but I think it is safe to say that this magic 'majority' number of 54.4% would NOT all be in favour of a coalition govt. Looking around at various forums, facebook groups, etc - I see a great number of NDP and Lib supporters who are horrified at this coalition and directly state that if it came to a vote, they would NOT vote for the coalition.

Perhaps some people who voted for their Conservative MP during elections have now changed their minds, but from what I have witnessed around the net and on the news. more people are against a coalition than any amount of people who may wish they had not voted Conservative.

So where does all this go? I am sick of seeing the sites that boast a 62% majority against the conservatives because that IN NO WAY proves that those people would support or hope for a coalition govt. What about the nearly 1 million people who voted for the Green party? Where is their say in this? They were not all that far behind PQ in the popular vote. What about the people who did not vote for ANY of the 'top 4' parties but for one of the SIXTEEN OTHERS. What do they think of all this?

And again, back to those lovely stats, I had pro-coalition people telling me that PQ are not part of the coalition at all, they just support it. Okay, well then that drops the tally to 44.4% of Canadians voted for NDP and Lib combined. So, most likely LESS than that would favour the coalition. So what stats are we talking about now? Is it really 62% against the Conservatives? Is that the important stat here?

MORE PEOPLE WERE AGAINST THE OTHER PARTIES!! Yes, that is taken singley, but that is how the ballot was set up 2 months ago - each individual party.

I will say again, if you want to join or flaunt a site that screams 62% majority, then surely you must concede the 73.8, 81.8, and 90% stats against Lib, NDP and PQ too. Yes it is legal for a coalition to form, but that does not mean it is the right time and place or reason. It wasn't right a few years ago and it's not right now.

People are also saying that there should not be a suspension of parliament at such a delicate time economically.

Okay - well, please tell me how removing a recently elected (re-elected?) Prime Minister and replacing him with a new Prime Minister who will only be in that position for 4 months because he had to RESIGN over a pathetic loss at the polls, and brining in yet another new Prime Minister, joining forces with another party (or two), etc etc will be 'okay' at 'such a delicate time' economically. How is that supposed to be more stable?

Can anyone around here see past their blinders?