Well that election can be added to the list of strange things about our country.

On Monday night the sovereigntists tried to save Canada, but Toronto abandoned it.

And Canada's socialist party had its best showing ever on the night Canada's most right-wing prime minister finally got his majority.

While Québec did its best to prevent Stephen Harper from getting his majority, the GTA gave the Conservatives all the extra seats it needed. Without the increase of 19 seats in the Greater Toronto Area, the Conservatives would have once again fallen short of a majority. Instead they won in 166 ridings, with 155 needed for a majority.

The NDP won 104, the Liberals 34, the Bloc three and the Greens one (as of late Monday)

Pardon the rest of Canwest newspaper employees for feeling more than a little leery about the prospect of the National Post (NP) returning to the financial embrace of “the LP Entities” -- as the lawyers and company executives refer to our employers.

Sure we’re glad that 277 Post employees will keep their jobs for at least a while longer.  But how will this affect us?

Greed is good. For a few people, at least. Greed has certainly been good for Canwest executives and directors who have been looking after themselves while ordinary workers get screwed as the company restructures.

When Canada’s largest media conglomerate filed for court protection against creditors for a portion of the company on Oct. 6, 2009, dozens of recently laid-off employees learned they would lose promised severance pay.

For Pat Vanderburg, who has worked for CHBC TV in Kelowna, B.C. for the past 23 years, this will amount to a loss of  over $95,000.

About 80 non-union retirees will lose promised Canwest-paid medical, dental and life insurance benefits. In addition, 120 former employees are facing reduced pensions.

Unions are stuck in a rut that seems to be getting deeper every day. We are losing members to layoffs, plant shutdowns and to bankruptcies that are the result of a worldwide financial crisis. Our membership and influence are shrinking at exactly the moment when union power is needed to protect millions of workers from wage rollbacks, outsourcing, unemployment and the devastation of entire communities dependent on single industries.

Blame Conrad Black. It’s all his fault. Every single media woe. Bankruptcies. Declining circulation. The public’s lack of trust. Everything.

We were reminded of this “fact” in an Associated Press story last week about the Sun-Times Media bankruptcy: “Sun-Times Media filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March, citing $479 million in assets and $801 million in debt. Besides factors plaguing newspapers nationwide, the company owes as much as $608 million in back taxes and penalties related to the business practices of former owner Conrad Black, who is serving a prison sentence for siphoning millions of dollars from the company.”

On Labour Day 2009 everyone should give a special thanks for union power and hope that it grows stronger.

Of course, this is not a message you read every day and some people may even be angered by it, but the truth is our society depends on unions to say “no” to the destructive forces unleashed by capitalism’s economic downturns.

As an elected union official I’ve seen the demands for cutbacks and concessions grow since the beginning of the year. When the economy turns down the reaction of many companies is to cut back on spending. Often this means chopping wages. Sometimes it means chopping jobs. This makes sense to the owners of individual companies, to management and even to some workers.

But, what does it mean to the economy as a whole?

Explosions through the night, tear gas and protecting twoyoung student teachers from riot police were not exactly what we expectedof our holiday in Bolivia. Still, my partner and I will remember the firstten hours of Wednesday long after we have forgotten every other vacation.

University students in La Paz have been demonstrating since Monday, callingfor the government to increase education funding. About 25,000 of them,along with professors and support workers marched through downtown and thengathered in the rain at Plaza San Francisco.

One of my American friends should have warned me.

While doing research for a novel I noticed two bright red counties next to apatch of dark blue on a CNN Georgia state map of the 2004 U.S. presidentialelection.

In the spirit of fair play and democracy at the Olympic Games, I propose anew form of medal standings that takes into account representation bypopulation.