[BLOG] Some Canada and #elxn42 links, before and after

• Former Globe and Mail editor William Thorsell’s essay throwout, a scathing criticism of the Conservative government by a right-leaning critic, got widely syndicated, first on the Medium account of MacLean’s journalist Paul Wells then at MacLean’s itself. Scott Gilmore’s similar MacLean’s essay is also worth reading in this light.
• The publicity received by Thorsell also relates, in part, to the Globe and Mail‘s nonsensical endorsement of the Conservative Party but not Harper. Over at the National Post, Andrew Coyne resigned as an editor on account of interference from above. Torontoist, meanwhile, noted the history of newspaper endorsements in Toronto.
• The fate of the NDP, never breaking through and in fact losing more than half of the seats won in 2011, was also discussed. MacLean’s before the vote noted many of the challenges, while the Toronto Star after the vote noted the disaster. NOW Toronto examined the contest in Spadina-Fort York between Olivia Chow and Adam Vaughan. Jacobin Magazine mourned the NDP defeat.
• MacLean’s and the Toronto Star celebrated the high voter turnout, 68.5%, the highest in two decades.
• Toronto was a major battlefield. MacLean’s looked at the desperate attempt of Harper to cultivate the Ford brothers, while right-leaning mayor John Tory congratulated the Liberals on the scale of their win. Steve Munro looked forward to the impact of the election on mass transit, blogTO looked at the city’s recent voting pattern and noted surprising outcomes, and re-elected Adam Vaughan promised an end to the controversial Toronto Islands airport expansion.
• Much is expected of the new government. Suburban ethnic voters are looking to the Liberals to fulfill promises, while on the world stage much is expected of a Canada apparently returned to its progressive promise. Meanwhile, much policy change is expected, everything from science to urban policy.
• The blogosphere took note of the election. Lawyers, Guns and Money started a discussion before the election about what might happen, while Crooked Timber celebrated afterwards. Joe. My. God. and Towleroad were among the sites to note the Trudeau victory briefly, Torontoist shared a cute election-day photo, and The Power and the Money’s Noel Maurer celebrated the fact that this election proved Duverger’s law.