Screen capture of an election related poll at kweschun.com - click for a larger image

…but resigned to some sad news on the politlcal front…The good news is I came across a great little mashup web app site called Canadian Election 2006. It’s a mixture of Google Maps (of course!), election data and online polling. It’s a good example of a ‘2.0′ technology that’s actually doing something useful that’s separate from the typical digerati uses of the technology - like restaurant listings, or tools for other tools (like, let’s say, Flock) that serve no real use to the average person. This is what the future will consist of - solutions to problems (what are they voting in x riding?), not solutions in need of a cause (like, let’s say, Flock).

Sorry, I don’t mean to be snarky about Flock - I’m just in a sad mood. The bad news? I have a sinking feeling Stephen Harper is going to win the Federal Election - so sayeth the analysis from Ipsos Reid. I know I shouldn’t trust the polls - at least the ones before, although exit polling out of the voting booth can be more accurate. But still, I look at those numbers and what seems to be an inevitable Conservative government and shudder. Oh, for the days of the past where one could have Conservative one could live with - like Bill Davies!

I know Canada does this swing to the right every couple of elections almost as a purging - kind of like a purging of the body’s toxins. And maybe that’s healthy for a democracy. Still, the good news out of it is that it will be a minority government; the thought of Stephen Harper representing my country for four long years makes me very, very sad. I hope the damage will be minimal - Lord knows what can happen to a country in four short years…