[FORUM] What surprising political changes have hit your country?

Most of my blog posts this past week after been about the very surprising, very transformative, federal election in Canada this past Monday, and I don't apologize for this. The election was huge: the NDP became (and may yet stay) the opposite and the only realistic nation-wide alternative to the Conservative party now in a majority, the Liberals have been halved and put in disarray, the Bloc Québécois have been annihilated. The election changed everything, and in any number of unexpected ways. (The NDP is now the main part of French Canada? Tabernak.)

That's the remarkable political transformation that happened in Canada. And in your country? Have any new political parties appeared to sweep the polls, any old-line parties revivified or devastated, any extraparliamentary or mass movements appear?

Discuss.

[LINK] "NDP's Brosseau admits she's never been to riding, but excited to go soon"

You know that people in a riding were desperate for change when they elect people like Ms. Brousseau. I say this not to bash her--there's no reason, I think, why she can't become a good MP, can't get the qualifications necessary--but I find just her victory so stunning.

The elusive newly-elected New Democrat who made headlines for going to Las Vegas during the election campaign has finally given an interview.

Ruth Ellen Brosseau told a newspaper in her Quebec riding that her victory came as a shock but that she is very excited about the opportunity.

Ms. Brosseau says in the interview with Le Nouvelliste that she will quit her job as a bartender in Ottawa and devote herself to the new job.

The Ruth Ellen watch intensifies She admits she has never visited the riding Berthier-Maskinonge but is excited to go soon.

The single mother speaks little French but says she is trying to improve so she can better serve her mostly francophone constituents.

Ms. Brosseau came under fire for her vacation during the campaign, but there are also questions about whether signatures on her nomination papers were falsified.

The interview was Ms. Brosseau's first since the election despite a plethora of media requests.

[DM] "How demographics shaped the 2011 Canadian federal election"

I've got a long post up--with many maps!--explaining how changing and established demographic realities played a very substantial role in the outcome of Monday's federal election here in Canada.

Go, read.