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After the 2004 election, so many American liberals came down with depression that medical professionals coined a new phrase for their unhinged condition: post-election selection trauma (or PEST).

One wonders what malady Canadian liberals will contract after they lose at the polls in today’s election. Meddling Michael Moore is already in the throes of despair.

Reuters reports:

A Canadian electorate that appears to have tired of more than a decade of Liberal rule was heading to the polls on Monday, seemingly ready to hand a limited mandate to the Conservatives.

It was a rematch of the 2004 election, a neck-and-neck race that ended up giving Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin a minority government, but this time Conservative leader Stephen Harper has built a much more substantial lead of six to 12 percentage points.

Martin’s government was toppled in November over kickbacks from government contracts but rather than spending most of his time on that issue, Harper methodically laid out a policy a day during a campaign that ended up dispelling some of the doubts voters had about him in 2004.

“I felt almost from Day One that we were doing what we wanted to do, getting our message out, and the surprise for me from early on was that the Liberals didn’t seem to be doing that,” Harper told reporters on his plane on Sunday, the final day of the campaign, as he flew to British Columbia.

And the Ottawa Sun adds:

Liberal volunteers, organizers and even MPs are admitting certain defeat tomorrow night at the hands of Stephen Harper’s Conservatives barring an 11th hour change of heart by Canadian voters.

As Grit troops fan across Canada in a last-ditch effort to turn the tide, they’re weighed down by the latest polls that show the Conservatives remain in the lead and have gained substantial ground in Quebec.

Most Grits publicly insist there’s still a chance their leader Paul Martin will “pull a rabbit out of the hat” and bring home a second Liberal minority government, but privately they admit that they’ve lost faith.

“I wish we were going to win but we are going to lose,” said a long-time Liberal organizer working in Toronto who has booked a vacation to a sun destination next week to boost his spirits.

“I wish we could pick up just enough seats to pull it off.”

When asked when he threw in the towel, the veteran Grit said “when we had no time left to rebound in the polls.”

John Tabin predicts:

It’s possible, though not likely, that the Conservatives will win an outright majority in Parliament. But even if they don’t, and need to form a coalition government, they will have more of a chance to move an agenda than one would expect. As a political consultant explained to me in Washington a few months ago before heading north to work for the Conservatives, the leaders of the Tories’ prospective coalition partner, the separatist Bloc Quebecois, are willing to give Harper several years of rule (but expect lots of Tory reforms to exempt Quebec). The Conservative victory will be a real one, and not just for Harper and his party but for Canada, for North America, and for the world.

As Tabin points out, the revolution is taking place with thanks to American blogger Ed Morrissey of Captain’s Quarters, who single-handedly helped blow the lid off the Canadian liberals’ culture of corruption.

All eyes will be on the Canadian blogosphere today as election events unfold. Stay tuned to these:

The Western Standard
Small Dead Animals
Stephen Taylor
Angry in the Great White North
Damian Penny
Blogging Tories

Check out Andrew Coyne as well. He’s got an op-ed in the NYTimes about the impending small earthquake in Canada.

Also:

David Warren Online
CTV Election News
CBC’s Canada Votes website
Mark Steyn on the election via Pajamas Media.

And Ed Morrissey will be liveblogging the elections beginning at 6pm Central Time tonight.

Austin Bay weighs in:

Here’s my position on the election: I’m for rebuilding what was once one of the best military organizations in the Free World, the Canadian Army. Its decline and degradation have reduced Canada’s international political influence.

Quick background: I worked with 4th Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group in Europe on three different major exercises in 1976 and 1977 (in West Germany). I worked with soldiers from 4th CMBG in the planning phases of two exercises and served as a liaison officer during another exercise. In REFORGER 76 the headquarters I served in (Headquarters, 1st Infantry Division Forward) became the headqaurters for a multi-national division. Our operations section controled 4th CMBG, the German’s 29th Panzer Brigade, and the US 1st Inantry Division’s 3rd Brigade. We portrayed the Russians (”Orange Force” in the scenario).

The Canadians launched a sneaky infantry attack –on foot– that preceded our armor attack. The ground attack cracked the Blue Force, sent them reeling, and blew open a hole for Canadian and US tanks.

The judges had to stop the exercise. Take a mulligan, Blue Force.

In my opinion, the Canadian brigade was the best brigade in NATO, which probably meant it was the best brigade man for man in the world.

I think the decline of the Canadian military has weakened Canada as a
global political player…

Don’t miss the interviews at The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns: Kook or candidate.

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10pm EST update. Started a new blog post - Canada: The Counting Begins.

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Liberal tolerance in Canada
Canada: No confidence in libs
Something rotten in Canada
Canada’s Bernie Kerik scandal
A Canadian who appreciates America
The nightmare of Hillarycare

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