The “unbelievable” reelection of Stephen Harper

When the last Parliament was dissolved, the polls showed that electorate would choose another Conservative Party minority. For a brief shining moment, before Quebec took the Tories minimal cuts to the arts as an attack on the province’s culture, it seemed possible that the Conservatives would be returned with the first majority government since Jean Chrétien went bye bye. And when Stephen Harper refused to shed tears over the worldwide market meltdown, it even looked possible that the hapless Dion might preside over a minority Parliament. Except for that brief nanosecond, the polls consistently showed the Conservatives being returned to power. Had anyone bothered to make a prediction when the election was first called, they were probably right on. The universe unfolded as it should and after the votes cast on October 14 were counted, Stephen Harper and the Conservatives were returned with a second minority government.