I was following the by-election coverage on CTV Newsnet tonight and got so disgusted at how the pundits were shouting over each other and that annoying Conservative guy keep sniping I had to shut it off. There was all this talk about it being a bad night for Stephane Dion. I’m trying to figure out how winning three of four by-elections is a bad thing. I just couldn’t take the ignorance any longer.

Yes, all of the seats were held by the Liberals in the last election and Bob Rae and Martha Hall Findlay both won their ridings with around 60% of the vote. What none of the ‘pundits’ bothered to mention about the Northern Saskatchewan riding is that it is a swing riding, has been held by all three national parties and was only won by 67 votes in the last general election.

That brings us to Vancouver Quadra. Yes, it is very tight right now. As I write this Joyce Murray has about a thousand vote lead and I’m sure she’ll be able to pull it out. The political panel kept harping on how it was terrible that she was doing so poorly in a “safe” Liberal riding.

To give some context on the riding, look at who the previous MPs from that riding are: Former Prime Minister John Turner, constitutional scholar Ted McWhinney and former BC Ombudsman Stephen Owen. While Joyce Murray was a competent MLA she certainly does not have the credentials or the reputation of any of the last three Liberal MPs for the riding. Her Conservative opponent was no push over with an impressive CV of her own and beating the preferred candidate for her party’s nomination. She was in for a fight from the beginning.

I guess what really annoyed me about the coverage tonight was the tone of the commentary from the NDP and Conservative pundits. It was very American in its style and it didn’t seem to matter that they were pushing the lines of truthiness. I just always hope the the political discourse in the country could be better.