man, I wish Canada had this yesterday
Their handling of scandals (Pre-black-face, which was a side-show) was absolutely atrocious, and they could absolutely get away with it, by closing ranks in Parliament. It's one of the big reasons for why the Cons gained 4 percentage points in the popular vote since 2015.
Another four years of an untouchable majority, and they would have stolen everything not nailed down, completely destroyed their public image, only to waltz into the polls, and find to their dismay that this results in another Con government.
Proportionate representation would give Canadian politics the kick in the direction it needs, but unfortunately, the Liberals went back on their promises of electoral reform, once they realized that it would cost them seats.
[1] Edit: It should be noted that Canada has a track record of reasonably functioning minority governments - so government will continue to be able to reasonably... Govern. What it won't be able to continue with, is closing is eyes and ears, to all kinds of cabinet impropriety.
Afaict, the Bloc are a right-leaning party. (Not familiar with Quebecois politics, so I could definitely be wrong)
Platform (en francais, bien sur) is mostly leftish positions with an emphasis on making sure Quebec gets their cut: https://www.blocquebecois.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Pla...
A vote for a preferred (but unlikely to win) candidate is effectively a vote against your 2nd-best strategic candidate (the one you'd prefer to win, if your ideal candidate can't achieve victory).
Basically, every time a voter dislikes one of the 2 leading candidates -- they are forced to not vote for their preferred candidate.
It is unacceptable and disrepectful to the voters -- but no "incumbent" party will ever propose or vote for "electoral reform" because it directly affects the likelihood that they will win re-election.
Instant Run-Off voting is an absolutely necessary next step, but wouldn't have helped in this election; the non-Liberal vote already achieved about 80% (80%!) of the vote. A new non-leftist party (People's Party of Canada) got essentially shut out due to strategic voting; it would have been interesting to see the actual interest in a more "libertarian" party, but we'll never know -- that data is lost when citizens are forced to either vote strategicially or throw away their vote to an undesirable opponent.
#WEXIT is exploding; Alberta secession has a serious chance of being considered and voted on.
Not a good time...
Certainly we can do with a better voting system.
Of course, popular vote percentages don't matter in elections; this illustrates, however, the level of generalizied disappointment with the powers-that-be making decisions against the best interests of the Alberta.
Very interesting this morning, is the extreme levels of contempt and dismissiveness being heaped upon any Albertan who dares to support the idea of separation; see #WEXIT. It's both embarrassing and potentially explosive.
Fortunately, Albertans have a long history of nodding quietly at derision and then going and doing something unexpected. We'll see what happens.
No national economic decision seems to be made, without figuring out what kind of compensation Alberta needs to receive, to bring it onboard.
BC, on the other hand, is the truly federally-ignored province. It's often not clear if it is considered to have any purpose, other then being a stopping point on the way to China.
The secession of BC would probably be in its provincial interests. The secession of Alberta into a land-locked petro-state would be an unmitigated disaster.
Albertans think everyone's super-classy, though! So, I'm sure it'll be no problem. Wait, while we're talking, let us write Ottawa that transfer cheque...
Nobody thinks its a great idea; westerners have traditionally been staunchly patriotic. But at some point, you leave the party where everyone hates you and laughs at you...