The Great 2006 Election Prediction Contest

All right - it's acid flashback, retro dance party 2004 time.

Simply post, by the time I've specified below, the number of seats you predict each political party will win on January 23. Don't forget about the Greens, as well as any independents. Snarky comments about the futility of the political process are always encouraged.

I'm not going to give away the number of seats up for grabs in Canada's parliament, so you may want to look that up yourself - and, as enterprising journalists who were definitely not wasting time doing crosswords in Daniel Robinson's class, I'm sure it won't be hard to track down. You may also wish to double-check the number of seats available in Quebec; despite the Bloc's newfound support in Atlantic Canada, I doubt they've got quite enough to make a breakthrough just yet.

However, if you want an overview of the issues and the major players, the recently-vindicated Wikipedia (each article has, on average, only one erroneous statement more than your typical peer-reviewed Encyclopedia Brittanica article, according to a recent study in Nature) will fill you in, as will the venerable CBC.

Predictions can be posted by replying to this message. All predictions have been arbitrarily determined to be due at 7:00am PT on January 23 - the time the polls open in British Columbia. Prizes will consist primarily of origami figurines made from campaign literature. So far, I've only mastered one particular style of origami, but for some reason when using election material that shape feels the most fulfilling.