I predict 136 Conservative seats

You can make your election predictions at predictor.hillandknowlton.ca. Click on "make a prediction" and you can enter how you think the vote will split nationally or regionally. I put the national vote at 38.5 per cent Conservative (up from 36.5 per cent in 2006), 29 per cent for the Liberals (down from 30.1), 16 per cent for the NDP (17.5), 9.9 for the Bloc (10.3), 5.5 for Green (4.5) and 1.1 (1.1) for other. The computer took these numbers and spit out a result of 136 seats for the Conservatives — up from 126 in 2006 but still a minority government.

        The site is also useful for showing which ridings are currently held by which party. It's amazing the diversity everywhere but on the Prairies. Ontario, for all the grief it gets from Alberta for being locked in Liberal mode, is strikingly divided with 54 Liberal, 40 Conservative and 12 NDP seats.

While at the election predictor site, I read a blog that led me to CTV's "Pick your party" game. It's a fun exercise. The game has eight election topics from crime to abortion to the carbon tax, and has a quote from each leader explaining their position on these topics. You pick the quote that best represents your thoughts on the matter. Here's the fun part: It doesn't say who said the quotes. Your choice therefore is not jaded by your impression of the leader. When you've made your eight choices, the game tells you which party — actually which leader — is most in line with your way of thinking. 

Thanks Stephanie

Thanks to my friend Stephanie Trudeau for telling me about the predictor website. Stephanie is VP public affairs with Labatt in Montreal. She and I and five other young Canadians traveled together in the U.S. for three weeks in January. For more on this trip read my archived blog entries from January.