Tag Archives: canada

Beautiful British Columbia

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Canadian Rockies in all their Spring majesty
Fertile soil, clean water, mountains and forests
Burnaby and Simon Fraser University campus
Bowen Island and Horseshoe Bay
English Bay and Kitsilano, early morning
Downtown from Beach Avenue tower
Granville Island from Beach Avenue park
English Bay and Kitsilano, early evening

I was very busy and did not have the time to go on a photo walk per se, but here are a few picts I took while in Vancouver, BC, for Northern Voice 2011.

Buh-Bye Gilles.

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Fourteen-something hours ago, I stated the following:
http://twitter.com/#!/stephdau/status/65076438101008384

A few days ago, I even stated on Facebook that I had made my peace with the fact that my (NDP) vote would not really count in my riding, the latter being Gilles Duceppe’s, the Bloc Québécois party leader. I also said I’d still be voting regardless, as my civic duty is important to me.

Well… Am I ever glad I (and 20k+ others) did! Here’s what happened later that day:

Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe announced last night he was stepping down as Bloc leader after his party took its worst drubbing in its nearly two decades of existence. […] Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe failed to clinch his own seat in Laurier-Sainte-Marie, losing to NDP neophyte Héléne Laverdière.

via Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe resigns after losing seat.

Even better, he didn’t even lose to what might have been his usual competition (Liberal). Double whammy.

To put things in perspective, here are the previous election’s results, compared to this one, in Laurier-Sainte-Marie:

  • 2008:
    • Block Québécois: 24,103 votes
    • Liberal: 8,798 votes
    • New Democratic Party: 8,209 votes
  • 2011:
    • New Democratic Party: 23,377 votes
    • Block Québécois: 17,984 votes
    • Liberal: 4,976 votes