Election Wrap: Medical Profession Sparsely Represented in House of Commons
Early release, published at www.cmaj.ca on October 17, 2008. Subject to revision. News Election wrap: medical profession sparsely represented in House of Commons Early release. Published online at www.cmaj.ca on Oct. 17, 2008. f economics truly is “the dismal science,”then Canadians might I well be tempted to conclude that politics is the dismal art. As they trekked to the polls on Oct. 14 to make their choices in the 40th general election, pollsters warned that all those voters seemed singularly unimpressed with their options — party leaders were largely uninspirational; campaigns lack- lustre and strategies mediocre, if not inco- herent. All parties seemed resolutely de- termined to avoid issues like health care. In fact, it barely made a ripple in the po- litical pond throughout the 5-week cam- Reuters / Blair Gable paign despite being consistently rated as a Re-elected Prime Minister Stephen Harper arrives at the Canada Reception Centre in Ot- major public concern. tawa, Ontario, a day after his Conservatives captured their second consecutive minority. Small wonder, then, that many eligi- ble voters did not make the trek, result- ing in a historic low turnout of 59%, as • Dr. Pierre Gfeller, general practi- • Dr. Martha Jo Willard, pathologist, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the tioner, Liberal (Laurentides-Labelle) Liberal (Brandon-Souris) governing Conservatives garnered 143 • Dr. Qais Ghanem, neurophysiolo- Faring even less favorably than seats and earned their second consecu- gist, Green Party (Ottawa South) physicians was the nursing profession. tive minority. The Liberals plummeted • Dr. Sean Godfrey, pediatrician, Lib- Of 22 candidates with a nursing back- to 76.
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