The Conservatives have won a majority government. Basically, this is Christmas morning to those who have been hoping for this since the PC Party and Alliance joined forces last decade.

But…if I may interject my own thoughts into last night’s results…the big story to me is not the majority government. The Conservatives got the majority because the Liberal and Bloc parties collapsed and the NDP have risen to unseen heights of popularity (especially in Quebec). With the Liberals being knocked way, way down, the Bloc not even gaining enough seats to be recognized as an official party in Parliament, Green leader Elizabeth May winning her seat (the first Green MP to be elected), and that big win that puts the NDP across the floor as the official opposition, I think Canadian voters marked their ballots for change. The Conservatives and NDP gain from that momentum.

I think, because of all that, the Conservatives won’t get as crazy with right-wing legislation as some people fear. They have to recognize that they are not this election’s biggest winner, and that electoral momentum is swinging in a different direction. A direction nobody even imagined at the beginning of the campaign. (But if they dismantle the CBC I will try to buy some broadcast equipment at the garage sale.)

While I hoped for a Conservative minority, if only to see the NDP push for electoral reform, I don’t know what the next election will look like. I doubt we’ll be choosing candidates on a preferential ballot (where you rank your choices 1,2,3,etc…) or that Parliament and/or the Senate will have proportional representation (the Conservatives won 40% of the popular vote but claim more than half the seats in Ottawa…which don’t make no sense), that we’ll elect Senators, or if the Conservatives really will eliminate a per-vote subsidy for parties gaining a chunk of the popular vote (does that risk the left getting together to join fundraising forces?). But the NDP surge means this isn’t a majority government as usual and that’s good for Canada.

Also good: More women will be heading to Ottawa as MPs.

And Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff and Bloc honcho Gilles Duceppe lost their seats and are resigning as party leaders. Since the Liberals don’t have many people left to choose from to lead their party, I bet it will be a Bob Rae-Justin Trudeau showdown.

Oh, and Alberta retains our “orange blob” with New Democrat Linda Duncan holding her seat in Edmonton-Strathcona. I predict Edmonton-Centre’s Lewis Cardinal can follow Duncan’s footsteps (and Laurie Hawn’s) if he sticks around for the next election. In Edmonton-Sherwood Park the Conservative held off the conservative (note the small c).

Plus, Peter Goldring vs. the Edmonton Journal could make for the odd interesting story the next few years.

Now that the election is done, get out there and clean up your signs. (You only have until Thursday.)

Alright, enough with the federal election. There’s more to talk about in Edmonton.

*****

The City of Edmonton is trying to tell people about the benefits of living near transit hubs. A series of open houses begins tonight.

A high-profile murder case is back in the news. A mother found guilty of murdering her newborn baby has had the conviction overturned.

The Edmonton Journal’s begun a look at city bakeries.

Since cougars are moving in, you can now call Parkland County “Cougar County.” I will also accept all Cougar Town references you may have, in the comments.

The Journal’s also launched a new blog page, using WordPress to power their blogs, and linking to other blogs and podcasts (like this one right here).

Does anyone else still use the AltaVista (or Yahoo!, I guess) Babel Fish for translating? I know there are other online translators out there, but I just can’t let go of the original.

Speaking of Babel Fish, this confirms what we all knew about Wikipedia. It’s the Hitchhiker’s Guide.

—–

Updating the online theatre review story from yesterday, Brittney has the scorned actor, Jeff Haslam, talking about his attack on two bloggers. I’ll leave my usual sarcasm aside and let you go read his rambling response.

I still think we can all be critics – heard online – and businesses need to start dealing with that reality.

—–

Now, how about some City Centre Airport action!

CBC says selling the airport seems to make the most financial sense for the City of Edmonton. And its taxpayers.

The Journal has this story, talking about how medevac may indeed more of an emotional play of the pro-airport side than one based on facts.

And city staff are preparing to handle the petition signatures. That includes entering all the signatories into a database, verifying signatures as taxpayers living in Edmonton, and confirming the petition’s wording and legality before handing it off to city council.

from the Edmonton Journal:

Alberta tourism minister Ady worries as latest oil sands attack ads roll out (Graham Thomson has some thoughts on this campaign, and its seriousness.)

Alberta promises action on shoddy building practices (I think this province needs a bunch of new housing rules.)

Vaccine’s effectiveness on aboriginal babies tested

Edmonton wanted man tied to July 31 murder (This headline reads awkwardly to me. Was “Edmonton” jammed in there for SEO? Were a couple of words just flipped?)

Edmonton twins stopped brutal sexual assault

North Edmonton residents may hear gunshots and explosions next week (Just another day in the north-end…)

National honours for Edmonton musicians

Nisku’s Ion Printing shows off new $5M printing press

from the Edmonton Sun:

Noisy motorcyclists steer clear of city (Oh well.)

Cyberspace another battleground in municipal election

Run raises $20,000 for veterans centre

from Metro Edmonton:

$50K set for at-risk youth

City welcomes more earthquake orphans

Actors ready for film festival debut (It’s getting close to the Edmonton International Film Festival.)

from the Edmonton Examiner:

Will province gamble with people’s lives?

Library seeks exiled writer (They’d like to have one, they’re not hunting one down.)

East Edmonton couple has best bloomin’ yard

from 630CHED/iNews880:

CN derailment near Fort Saskatchewan worst than first thought

from CBC Edmonton:

Police crime maps don’t show public full picture

Power-line meetings futile: resident (But, even if that was true, couldn’t that be changed if people actually showed up?)

from Global Edmonton:

New schools set to open

from Vue Weekly:

In bed with industry

Bare minimum (Tailings ponds cleanup. Eventually.)

New home in an old space (Prism moves.)

from SEE Magazine:

The worst job in Canadian politics (Alberta opposition leader.)

Rumours, anyone?

Some SEE writers are east of us, missing Edmonton’s more friendly transit riders, and contemplating what we can learn from Montreal.

Oh no…they ate Taco in a Bag!

It’s a practice that seems out of step with the speed, inclusiveness, and information of the Internet.

Here’s what I’m talking about.

The Edmonton Journal had a story Thursday, from a University of Alberta study, about the federal government’s tax credit for youth sports not helping as many low-income families. It’s an interesting story, which I linked you to yesterday.

I would venture to say that when a story is interesting, or important, it can make the rounds on blogs, websites, Twitter, etc… That’s the speed, inclusiveness, and information of the Internet.

A good story zips around quickly through networks of people, or you come upon it when another website *ahem* points you to it. We can all read the story without having to pick up a specific newspaper or tuning into a broadcast. That’s the inclusiveness.

The thing I find interesting is that this is a practice newsrooms can’t get into. Because they’re still tied into their paper or broadcast they feel they have to repeat the story for their audience.

Take today’s Edmonton Sun story on the same U of A sports tax credit study. Or the 630CHED/iNews800 story.

Not really much new information in either of those. But instead of telling their audiences to go read the Journal’s story, or saying “Hey, the Journal had this story, but you should go read the U of A study at the university’s website…” and then dedicating limited Sun/CHED/iNews staff resources to original stories, we get the same story in multiple places.

Now, I’m not saying newsrooms should ignore interesting and important stories. I’m the first to want people to read similar stories from multiple sources. You just better be adding something to the story, even if it’s a biased spin. You could also do new angles, follow-up on the story.

That’s what the Journal did with SEE Magazine’s second story on Progressive Conservative MLA Carl Benito. He promised to donate his MLA salary to scholarships. SEE did a story back in February and followed up Thursday.

In today’s Journal Benito tries to explain he meant only one year’s worth of his salary, doled out to students at his own pace.

That’s the follow-up story you want to see.

This leads me to my second point on attribution. I think the Internet, through blogs, podcasts, Facebook and Twitter, etc… breaks down the proprietary hold on stories newsrooms appear to have. There’s no mention of SEE Magazine’s two stories on Benito, yet anyone savvy enough to read more than one source of news (I wonder where you can find links on a daily basis…) will know where the Journal got the idea for the story.

I think the contrast of traditional news and Internet can be shown in links. Bloggers tend to – but it’s certainly not a blanket statement – note where they found something or where the idea came from for their story or opinion piece. You’ll usually at least see a link, indicating the spin-off.

It’s just too bad newsrooms, on a regular basis, ignorantly believe their audience consumes news only from them. That’s talking down to your audience. It also, as shown in the first example, wastes time on stories we’ve all already seen.

(My argument doesn’t include events or news conferences everyone can attend at about the same time. That’s also the best chance we have to see how the different newsrooms approach stories.)

Today’s headlines after the jump.

from the Edmonton Journal:

Koziak calls for halt to Edmonton LRT expansion (And…Stephen Mandel just bought himself enough Mayor of Edmonton business cards for three more years.)

Scott McKeen’s got a take on Koziak’s campaign launch: Koziak hold views on airport, LRT that would diminish us

Expo bid shows giant potential

Edmonton-based Stantec snaps up third U.S. firm (Busy, busy, busy.)

Edmonton’s first Warped Tour: a stick, sweaty success

Alberta’s first Michael Kors store coming to West Edmonton Mall

from the Edmonton Sun:

Haze descends on city (The goggles, zey do nothing!)

Edmonton’s inner-city is bloomin’

from 630CHED/iNews880:

Alberta loses 13,000 full-time jobs in July

Mayoral candidate says no sense in running for council (I’ll give Daryl Bonar the fact he’s going big.)

from CBC Edmonton:

Alberta defends oilsands in ads

from CTV Edmonton:

Charter airline interested in airstrip built west of Edmonton – Something about the City Centre Airport closing not sucking the capital region into a black hole goes here -

Edmonton actor dies at 51

from SEE Magazine:

Since SEE got the Carl Benito story going I’ll link to the Journal’s story here: MLA insists he’s keeping his promise to donate  salary (Oh Carl Benito…you never said ONE year’s worth in your campaign. Let’s see if the people of Edmonton-Mill Woods remember that.)

You know what, while I’m riffing on newsrooms, can you let me know if CTV’s News Director ever gets around to approving my comment on their blog, I’m tired of checking. (And, while I admit it can take me some time to approve first-time comments here, or at EdmontonPolitics.com, I know he knows I commented.) Speed of the Internet strikes newsrooms again!

And we’ve got one more late addition to today’s news. The City of Edmonton has narrowed down the City Centre Airport re-design to five competitors.

Jacket. Check. Button-up shirt. Check. Axe bodyspray. Nope.

Thanks for your tips, Edmonton.

You totally Eliza Doolittled me. I’m sure that sounded better (and less dirty) in my mind.

Anyway, I attended the symphony Saturday and had a great time. It helped that I had a few pointers from you, including attire, and I was much more at ease.

It also helped that the show was “Broadway Rocks,” and it’s the PERFECT show for someone just getting into the symphony. It’s also good if you like Broadway and all those songs they do. I won’t go into a review (I’m sure my request from the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra is on the way) so check out what my ticket-holding friend had to say about the show at her blog.

I also have to give shout-outs to Kerri (and the future help I’m sure to glean from her blog) and Sarah. Sarah is a ringer, with inside experience at the Winspear Centre.

I’m also glad I had suggestions about tuxedo shirts and leather chaps. You have to have a sense of humour about things you don’t know about.

Oh, and Philip Paschke, the ESO’s New Media Specialist (Yes, they have one.), had great tips all around, which I’ll share with you. It will be helpful in case you are like me, and don’t really know which side of people to walk on, what an oboe is and other life/orchestra items.

“For dress, you’re not going to see tuxes and gowns or anything, but the majority of people will probably be in the business casual to semi formal range of dress. There’s no dress code though, and I’ve seen pretty much everything at concerts, starting at beach wear and up.”

I actually did see a tux. That guy looked good. I also saw casual people. It will be interesting to see if that had anything to do with the more relaxed Broadway atmosphere. I also think I’ll go a little more business-formal, myself.

“The biggest thing to keep in mind for many concerts is the acoustics of the hall,” Paschke writes.

“Because the Winspear is designed so we can perform some concerts unamplified, it means that audience noises are much more noticeable than in other venues. So, shuffling of feet, dropping a program, coughing, whispering to your neighbour, even a vibrating phone can all be noticed by the people surrounding you, or even the entire audience. That being said, this concert is amplified, so most of those things won’t really bother anyone. It’s only in the unamplified classical concerts in which people get annoyed at these kinds of intrusions.”

I noticed some of that noise in between songs. I will have a mouthful of Fisherman’s Friend to avoid coughing at future concerts.

“People will applaud at the beginning when the conductor walks out, and they’ll applaud after each song. Edmonton audiences seem to like to give standing ovations at the end, but don’t feel like you have to. They’ll probably do the encore anyways.”

Knowing to clap for the conductor is a great piece of advice. You want to at least appear like a cultured gentleman.

Nothing I like better with my orchestra than a hot cup of cocoa. That purse? Not mine. That second hot cocoa is mine though.

Remember that the ESO is in the Winspear Centre and that downtown parking can be a hassle. Arrive early and have cash for parkades.

Don’t forget that the lobby is open early so you can check your coats, grab a drink or a coffee and enjoy some people watching.

The best piece of advice also came from Philip.

“…oh, and we often get complaints from people with scent allergies, about their seat neighbours’ perfume. So don’t cover yourself in Axe body spray before coming…”

He just about ruined my night with that. Lucky for him, I can go 2 hours without a fresh application of those heavenly scents.

Actually, scent allergies will save us all from having to sit next to jerks bathed in perfumes, cologne, and the aforementioned Axe. (Axe: It’s what your Ed Hardy shirt should smell like.)

Thanks for your help. It was a great night and I’ll be going back to the ESO.