There was only one pro-life candidate - Donald Meredith, a Conservative. But what were his chances in Toronto Centre even without the nomination scandal in the riding? In other ridings it was a choice between moderate poor-choicers and radical pro-aborts. There may be one more vote for the Conservative minority government, but, according to Campaign Life Coalition, that's unlikely to become one more vote in defense of the unborn.
From the political prospective, both major parties got what they were looking for. The Liberals maintained their hold in all 3 urban ridings. The Conservatives won a decisive victory in Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River (which they lost on a razor-thin margin in 2006) and nearly won Vancouver-Quadra, so they can claim the final score is not 3:1 for the Liberals, but 2.5:1.5. The NDP didn't win any seats, but they didn't hold any of those ridings anyway.
The biggest winner was the Green party. With exception for the SK riding, Green party candidates ended more or less neck in neck with the NDP. I wonder if that has anything to do with the by-elections being held on Saint Patrick's Day...
And another thing worth noticing - is the extremely low voter turnout. 24.4% in Willowdale. About 25% in Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River where the Liberals parachuted in a token Aboriginal female candidate, instead of allowing a fair nomination vote. Even in Vancouver-Quadra, which could become a swing riding, voter turnout was 33.9%. Just one in three registered voters chose to go to the polls. All others stayed home - either because they didn't care or because they too didn't see much to choose from.
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