I'm poking my nose into the Atlantic Canadians area to see if the election is under discussion -- and behold, it is. Would anyone mind explaining how the whole minority government thing works, please? I've been reading the election stuff over at The Globe and Mail, and the possibility of a minority government has been mentioned a few times. Now I'm all curious.

I've been watching some of the candidates discussing issues over at Newsworld International. No rapping, so far.

t shudders at the thought of Harper or Martin rapping

Calli, a minority govt. is when one party has more seats than any other but still not enough for a simple majority. (There are 308 seats in Parliament, meaning 155 seats are required for a majority.)

When that happens, the minority government party has to figure out a way to gather enough votes for a majority. They usually do it by horse-trading with other parties; i.e. the NDP will say "we'll support your government if you agree to introduce policies x, y and z."

Or you could just read the CBC website, which explains it much more concisely here.

Thanks Dani! The CBC site looks like it has lots of useful stuff.

So if the Liberals get 154 seats, they might be able to hook up with the NDP or the Greens and stay in power.

Multi-party (more than 2, I mean) politics looks fascinating.

Apparently, even if the liberals do not earn the most seats, they can still try to form a government, if they find a party to work with. From what I understand, they could ask for a vote of confidence in the house, and if they could get enough votes, they could remain in power, if not, the GG would ask another party to form the government. There would be a hue and cry, I'm sure, if Martin tried to hold onto power this way.

they could remain in power, if not, the GG would ask another party to form the government. There would be a hue and cry, I'm sure, if Martin tried to hold onto power this way.

Paul Martin was quoted on the front page of the Toronto Star today saying "most seats wins".

"It's a common sense proposition that the party that has most seats is that party that ought to form a government", Martin told reporters.

Ralph Nader endorses Layton

Can't he just meddle in one election at a time.

I love that that story broke in Timmins.

Ralph Nader: Where the hell is Timmins?

Helpful N. Ontario person: Welp, from Trana, ya takes the Highway 11 straight nort. If ya hits Cochrane, ye've overshot 'er.

Sister left yesterday. Parents arrive tomorrow. Wish I could hire Molly Maid.

COMM-worthy, JSw!

I am both more nervous & more hopeful about the election now - nervous b/c of all the Conservatives shooting their mouths off about overriding the Supreme Court on every little thing, hopeful b/c it may be the last straw that convinces people yes, they really are that bad.

Megan, I hope your holidays are going well & that you didn't stress yourself too much over housecleaning.

Speaking of vacations, we'll be in Ontario for nearly three weeks in July/August and just discovered that our usual house/dog/cat-sitter is unavailable then. So now we have to find one friend to take the dog and another person to come in & feed the cat, or start researching the cost of kennels. Bleah.

Returns starting to come in from Newfoundland.

It's so weird, I'm not used to being able to hear this stuff.

One of the CBC analyists quoting his wife's (slightly tongue-in-cheek) analysis: Well, [spoilerfonted for the hell of it] the godless NDP never was very popular on the Rock.

Two liberals elected so far. Also, someone whose name I didn't catch is fighting off a challenger who's only 11 votes back. Small ridings can be nail-biters.