Posted on 05/02/2011 8:18:53 PM PDT by Candor7
Canadian voters have delivered Conservative Leader Stephen Harper his first majority government after five years of governing in a minority situation, CBC News projects. Meanwhile NDP Leader Jack Layton was set to become Official Opposition leader.
The NDP, according to projections, made a major breakthrough and appeared to have nearly tripled their seat count, while the Liberals — often touted as Canada's "natural governing party" — were poised to suffer a stunning historic electoral loss and place third.
As of 10:49 p.m. EST, the Conservatives were elected or leading in 164 seats, followed by the NDP with 103, Liberals with 32 and the Bloc with four. A party needs to capture 155 seats to win a majority in the House of Commons.
Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff trailed in his Toronto riding, based on early reports that also showed several prominent Toronto Liberals behind NDP or Tory candidates.
In Quebec, Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe was trailing behind NDP candidate Hélène Laverdière in the riding of Laurier-Sainte-Marie, in what was shaping out to be a disastrous night for the sovereignist party. Despite projected overall Tory gains, Lawrence Cannon and Jean-Pierre Blackburn, who served as ministers in Harper's cabinet, were defeated in their Quebec ridings.
In the battleground province of Ontario, Conservative Chris Alexander defeated Liberal incumbent Mark Holland in the coveted Greater Toronto Area riding of Ajax-Pickering.
According to early results, Conservatives and NDP made gains in Atlantic Canada at the expense of the Liberals, who have won the most seats in the region in every federal election since 1997. The Conservatives had 38 per cent of the vote, compared to 30 per cent for the NDP and 29 for the Liberals.
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper waves after voting in Calgary on May 2. Todd Korol/Reuters In Labrador, the Conservatives won what was once considered a safe Liberal seat, with Peter Penashue defeating Liberal incumbent Todd Russell. The Tories had been shutout of the province following an "Anything but Conservative" campaign mounted in 2008 by former premier Danny Williams.
Meanwhile, in St. John's South-Mount Pearl, NDP candidate Ryan Cleary defeated Liberal incumbent Siobhan Coady.
The results come as many analysts were caught off guard during the campaign after polls suggested a surge of support for the NDP, specifically in Quebec, following the leaders' debate in French.
Layton took advantage of this apparent spike, saying that voters were tired of both the Conservatives and Liberals and that the "winds of change" were in the political air.
The polls also forced Harper and Ignatieff to alter their strategy and focus more on the NDP leader.
Harper returned again and again to one main theme, repeatedly stressing the need for a Conservative majority. He warned that Canada’s economic stability was at risk if the opposition parties had enough seats following the election to form a coalition or some other power sharing arrangement.
His warnings prompted accusations of hypocrisy from Layton and Duceppe, who claimed Harper was prepared to seize power through a coalition agreement after coming second to Paul Martin's Liberals in 2004. But Harper rejected the charge.
Although Harper had initially targeted a possible Ignatieff-led government, propped up by other parties, his focus in the later days of the campaign switched to the possibility of Layton in power.
For his part, Ignatieff slammed Harper over his handling of the economy and accused the Conservative leader of disrespecting the institution of Parliament.
He ran ads questioning if Harper could be trusted with "absolute power" and reminded voters that Harper shut down Parliament twice and had been held in contempt of Parliament.
Ignatieff had said he would like to stay on as leader regardless of the outcome of the federal election.
I saw a few of those flags being waved amidst all of the union jacks in the crowd during the Royal Wedding...just curious - do you think that event might have inspired a higher Tory among those who might be described as traditionalists?
I know a first-time Conservative voter from Iggy’s riding. :-)
Yeah, the NDP rise is disturbing, for sure!
I hope America’s conservatives can get more than 38% though.
Good news for Canada!
I lived in Ontario for nine years (native Texan myself) and my view of Harper was that he was more conservative than what you’d see in a McCain or Huckabee admin.
Because Canada produces the vast majority of NHL players, and both in the photo are Canucks?
Just my guess, YMMV...
Harper has absolutely nothing to do with christian/conservative values, the name conservative has no relation to him or what his party claimed to have stood for many decades ago. The Christian Heritage Party is the only conservative party left in Canada that can even use that term anymore.
Compare Canadian Party platforms here
“Conservatives” on abortion and ‘homo’ (aka bisexual) marriage.
2006
http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/archive/ldn/2006/jan/06011707
2002
http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/archive/ldn/2002/jan/02010203
Congratulations, Canada.
you said “the best prime minister Canada ever had”
You have absolutely nothing to do with Christian conservative values and you have absolutely no understanding of history either.
Good to see Canada moving rightward. What needs to be done to further change things is you folks need legal protection of free speech & get rid of the lefts speech codes. As long as the left controls and can shut down debate conservatism is to a disadvantage.
Woohoo! It sounded from the media like this was not the expected outcome. Good job! Makes me want to visit soon!
Woohoo! It sounded from the media like this was not the expected outcome. Good job! Makes me want to visit soon!
Woohoo! It sounded from the media like this was not the expected outcome. Good job! Makes me want to visit soon!
Unless he loses 12 or 13 Conservative Parliament members there will be no elections in Canada until 2015. This is the largest governing majority for the Conservatives since the 1980’s with Brian Mulroney I’m sure.
Harper is probably their best Prime Minister in decades.
psychopomp <<- good word-smithing..
Polls on friday were saying another Conservative minority. NDP surge was predicted. Polls had shown their strength for a few weeks now. Collapse of the Libs and Bloc Quebecois also somewhat expected as a result of that surge.
Makes me even more happy that I could contribute to the Canadian economy by staying in Banff for a week.
I’m still going through “Tim Bits” withdrawal. ;)
Here’s to the True North, Strong and Free!
Rolling back the years of Trudeau-ism is an arduous task.
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