Harper Wins, Game Over - Game On

Lots of good news for Canadians tonight. The end of the Bloc Quebecois is a major shift in Canadian politics. With 2 seats, a party that was pro Quebec separation is decimated. International investors will feel relief, an element of risk to investing in Canada has been removed, at least in the short term.

A Harper majority means that Conservative policies can finally be implemented in full. Its been a long wait for Harper. I once met with him briefly in his Calgary office when he was a Reform Party MP. Back then he was duking it out with party leader Preston Manning about a clothing allowance. I was suggesting that it might be efficient for MP's share their email addresses with constituents. Not much happened, at least right away. Now we have social media. Who knew?

Jack Layton lead a party with 36 seats. They've gone from 1 to 59 Quebec MPs for a total of 104. Big improvement. Who are these new MPs? Layton forcefully pointed out that they consisted of "women and men". He hasn't a clue yet. Please fax your resumes to Jack ASAP. One example is Ruth Ellen Brosseau. She was hard to track down during the campaign as she was in Las Vegas. Now she's the most famous assistant manager pub manager in Canada. Running for political office as a candidate for a a lesser political party gives you a call option on a Black Swan political event. Free shots for Ruth Ellen!

The Liberal Party was crushed. They should be able to retool and come back but it will be a painful process.

The official Opposition will be ineffective and disorganized. It will have a significant Francophone component. Layton will have his hands full herding the cats. Caucus meetings in Vegas? Cirque and Dion!

Investors are going to be enthused. This is likely to push up Canadian markets tomorrow. Would Potash Corp. have been taken over by BHP if there was a Conservative majority? Now it gets interesting. Game on!