The big topline story from the federal election yesterday in Canada is that the Conservatives won a solid majority of seats in parliament. Prime Minister Steven Harper will have extensive power to govern the country as his party desires. The Bloc Québécois was effectively wiped out at the national level. Last night it went from 49 seats in parliament to a mere 4, causing it to lose its official party status. Liberals lost over half their seats, falling from 77 to only 34. The NDP had overwhelmingly its best national showing ever, going from 37 seats to 102, making it the official opposition.

The U.S. is not an inherently divided country split between two ideologies. Nor do American voters actually want a two-party system; they don’t believe this offers a sufficient set of choices. This dichotomy is a result of our election system’s structure and will not change until are election laws are changed.