Although that elections over, folks here may be interested in reading this daily kos diary and its comments:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/10/14/83926/514/541/630017
Canada: an overview of where things stand
by heritage watch
Tue Oct 14, 2008 at 06:20:43 AM PDT

**

That diary begins with a listing and succient explanation of Canada's provinces and those provinces' politics going into last nights' election:

"Now for a quick tour of Canada.

NEWFOUNDLAND: The Tories (Conservatives) held the three St. John's seats, the Liberals the four rural ones, but they are the victim of Danny William's ABC campaign and may be shut out. It is all but guaranteed that St. John's East will go NDP, while the other two will probably go Liberal. NDP has a small chance still in St. John's South.

P.E.I.: Completely Liberal since 1988, the two westernmost seats are too close to call, given that Dion's Green Shift came down like a lead balloon here.

NOVA SCOTIA: The NDP has their best Maritime results here and have improved during the campaign. They have 2 very close targets and an outside chance in 3 others. The Tories need to hold Central Nova from the NDP and Green leader Elizabeth May, the South Shore from the NDP and possibly grab West Nova from the Grits (Liberals). The Liberals have nothing to look forward to; Independent Sean Casey will have no problems.

NEW BRUNSWICK: The best prospects for the Tories are here in the Western, Anglophone half of the province, with 3 potential gains. Whether the NDP vote can be squeezed will decide the outcome.

QUEBEC: The Bloc managed to beat back the Tories and is threatening them in the Saguenay and Quebec City. An NDP vote squeeze is key; advance voting in Quebec City is VERY HIGH. Elsewhere they're pretty much set to go.
Montreal is a bit different, where they must defend two very vulnerable seats from the Grits. Both MPs were in one of their ads, and face the former MP in one and Justin Trudeau in the other. The NDP needs to hold Outremont, which should'nt be too hard, and possibly snatch Westmount although this is unlikely.
In Gatineau one Liberal and one BQ MP must stave off the NDP; Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon should be reelected.

ONTARIO: It appears the Liberals have regained the lead. The NDP is quite strong in the province, possibly as high as 26%, and needs to protect one endangered incumbent in Hamilton, make a few gains in the South and romp in the North, mostly at the Liberals expense. It is unclear if and how much the Tories will extend into Toronto; the 416 area code is OK for the Liberals except downtown. Gerard Kennedy was trailing in a recent poll, another poll has the Grit lead there over the NDP cut by two-thirds which could precipitate a couple of losses.

MANITOBA: St. Boniface could fall to the Tories, Churchill in the North to the NDP.

SASKATCHEWAN: The NDP have a couple of too-close-to-cll targets but have improved recently. The Liberals will hold Wascana but not regain the seat they lost in the recent by-election.

ALBERTA: Safe, safe Tory. Well, one exception. Edmonton-Strathcona is too close and some Liberals plan to vote strategically.

B.C.: Whoa! polling is a bit all over the place. The Tories expect to pick up at least 4 seats on the basis of a low Liberal vote. The NDP might pick off a couple, but must defend the open Surrey North and ultra-maginal Vancouver Island North. The Liberals only have a chance in Saanich-Gulf Islands against Nat. Res. Min. Gary Lunn, where the NDP candidate withdrew. The Greens might be out of luck; their best results are here.

NORTH: Yukon: Liberal NWT: NDP win with fairly strong Tories. NUNAVUT: Too close, but the Tories may pick this open seat up from the Grits."

-snip-

Here's one comment from that diary:

this beginning sentence refers to comments written by other posters one who said that Harper is the Sarah Palin of Canadian politics and one who said, among other things, that Harper is a realist

"My view

Markmc03 is too cruel and Doctor Nick is too kind.

Harper is a LOONEY, no question, BUT unlike American LOONEY's he has PROMISED to keep his wingnut religious views OUT of his governing. And SO FAR has kept his word. In Canada the Conservatives are actually a coalition of the Reform Party (the wingnut party Harper comes from) and the Conservatives (what would be the civilized, small government, fiscal conservative end of the Republican Party).

On the other hand Nick is too unconcerned about Harper's Fundy connections. Many Conservative ridings are controlled by the Fundy wing of that party. I DO NOT trust Harper to keep the crazy-right at bay IF he has a Majority government.

Personally, I hope that a Liberal (centerist Democrat) / NDP (Social Democrats - leftist Kucinich type Democrats) coalition government would win.

The results ARE NOW IN and show a Conservative Minority. Any MINORITY is better than a Conservative Majority.

The governing party in Canada for MOST of the last 100 years has been the middle of the road Liberals (by US standards they are left center) this election they had a leader (Dion) who was very poor in English and couldn't win Ontario (think California + NY as far as impact is concerned). Dion will step down and his replacement will bring the Liberals up enough so that next time the Liberals will at least trade places with the Conservatives.

Canada is basically a small "L" liberal country. Moderate - sober - universal health - law abiding.

Very much what the US should bebut has never been able to achieve".

by Mylegacy on Tue Oct 14, 2008 at 09:22:17 PM PDT

**

Also, this comment and lyrics were included in another comment from that diary:

"I suppose while waiting for the news to come "riding" in :-)...you could try humming this to a certain tune.

O Canada
our home and native land....
We vote today
clos-ing a 6 week campaign
From the Maritimes
to Saskatchewan we'll cast our votes in thee.
Our Mounties vo-ting in Yellow Knife
A Palin menace they can see!
God keep our land
Cheney-Bush free
O Canada we stand on guard for thee
O Canada our bacon is tas-tee!"

by WineRev on Tue Oct 14, 2008 at 06:43:53 AM PDT