Canadian election results a good thing

I'm of course not a fan of the newly elected Conservative Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, but I think the important thing to take away from the results of Canada's recent elections is that, in our neighbor to the north--democracy still works. When government officials do corrupt things like award contracts because they have gotten kickbacks, they should get voted out of office. Such activities should provoke a lack of voter confidence. Republicans in America will predictably herald the elections in Canada--which did not bring in a Conservative majority in parliament--as a victory for their side, as National Review columnist Doug Gamble does here:

Still, although the Conservative margin of victory was not as big as pre-election polls had suggested, it was a momentous comeback for a party once on the endangered-species list.

And Gamble suggests that this is a sign of good things to come for Canada's conservatives:

It's too soon to say it's "morning in Canada," but with the Liberals gone for now and the Conservatives bringing a fresh-faced approach to Ottawa, including an energetic team and a desire to have the country defined by its achievements rather than its long-held resentment of achievers, it might be a few minutes past noon.

Hopefully, this scenario will play out here in America, where day after day it is becoming increasingly evident from a mass of indictments and returned political contributions that Republican Washington is the ultimate "pay for play" environment, where rich, powerful corporate interests are treated as the most important--and sometimes the only--constituents. Anyone who finds in the results of the recent Canadian election a just retribution for political corruption should vigorously support the same kind of electoral retribution against the Republican establishment in Washington.