So — what the hell was that? At the close of the federal election, the whole thing looks to us a lot like the climax of Quentin Tarantino’s 1992 gangster film Reservoir Dogs: a bunch of guys with suits stand around with their guns pointed at each other for an uncomfortably long time, knowing they have no good moves available to them. Finally the guy who's supposed to be in charge pulls the trigger, and seconds later everyone is dead.

Stéphane Dion, deader than most, has the added indignity of learning that the one he put his faith in as a traveling partner was a double agent. It’s obvious now, for all her badass strutting, that Elizabeth May succeeded only in siphoning off enough Liberal votes to bury Dion’s candidates in a great many ridings.

Gilles Duceppe, meanwhile, is Mr. Pink, an annoying loner with his own agenda who escapes with the diamonds but, we imagine, gets out the door only to realize he’s surrounded and has no plan for where he’s going.

And the Canadian public? We’re the cop who was kidnapped early in the film, tortured for no good reason and then disposed of as an afterthought. After $290 million in election expenses — and after three elections in four years — here’s where we’re at: everyone loses. Congratulations Canada, you got punk’d. Worse yet, a record low voter turnout of 59.1 per cent means we were complicit in our own humiliation.



Watch: Canadian Federal Election highlight reel!


Early on election night we, like cheerful loser May, dared to plot strategies for redemption. Perhaps the Liberals and the NDP, if they were able to see their own self-interest — and Canada’s — beyond their immediate organizational goals, could form a coalition that might assume power. As the night wore on and the extent of the Liberal humiliation sank in, we remained in denial: why couldn’t the Bloc be added to the coalition? Is it possible, again, that the 61 per cent of Canadians who voted for parties of the centre-left and left would be stuck in opposition while the party of the right gets to govern? Yes. It seems it is possible. Not just possible. It’s the truth.

If there’s one thing this election provided, it is clarity on the point that no party has the trust of Canadians: the Liberals under Dion are unable to communicate and unready to lead. The NDP under Jack Layton are showing signs of improvement, but are not close to being palatable to most of us. The Green party is a tremendous waste of time. And Stephen Harper's Conservatives will not get the majority government they so crave, not now and not soon, because Canadians simply do not see their values reflected in the blue agenda.

Meanwhile: global financial crisis, global warming, global conflict, persistent poverty; issues that will reshape Canada whether we’re ready or not continue to develop. A coherent strategy is more urgently needed with every passing day. And with each election, the likelihood of coherence emerging slips further and further away.

One of two things needs to happen soon: a realignment of the parties to develop serious governing alternatives, or an overhaul of the electoral system that would allow for stable, productive minority coalitions.

What we have now doesn’t really work for anyone, and that is the expensive lesson of this ill-conceived election.