The Canadization of Election 2010

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Been trying to think of the appropriate analogy to what those blasted debates have done to this election.

USA it ain’t – why?  Let’s state the obvious:

i) US is a Presidential contest

ii) There’s a four year fixed term

iii) You can spend money on prime time advertising to rebut the organised debates. (Here not only are Plaid excluded but we can’t even spend our own money on TV rebuttal – one of the big benefits to the London parties is this is saving them money)

Whereas Canada has:

i) A FPTP Parliamentary system

ii) Variable term Parliaments

iii) A closely regulated TV debating system (not sure about TV advertising – perhaps Canadian colleagues could enlighten us)

iv)  A multi party system with a strong nationalist party and significant historical regional voting loyalty

http://www.sfu.ca/~aheard/elections/laws.html

Implications?

i) The possibilibilty of huge seat changes – in 1993 the Progressive Consevatives lost 149 of their 151 seats.

ii) There is no reason at all why the LibDems can’t actually win this election.

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