Posted on 01/23/2006 7:13:33 PM PST by mylife
Harper wins Tory minority government, CBC News projects Last Updated Mon, 23 Jan 2006 22:09:22 EST CBC News
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper will become Canada's next prime minister, as Canadians have elected a Tory minority government and ended a 12-year reign of Liberal rule, CBC News projects.
At 10 p.m, the Tories were leading or elected in 99 ridings in central and eastern Canada, the Liberals in 89, the Bloc in 39 and 20 for the NDP.
In the Atlantic provinces, the Liberals, who won 22 seats in the June 2004 election, had elected or were leading in 19 of the region's 32 ridings. The Conservatives, who were hoping to make bigger inroads in the region, were elected or leading in nine ridings, only a gain of two. But they did increase their popular support by 4.5 per cent since the June 2004 vote. The NDP maintained their seat count of three. In the last election, the Liberals took 22 seats, while the Tories picked up seven.
Former Tory turned Liberal Scott Brison, the public works minister, Geoff Regan, minister of fisheries and oceans and Conservative MP Peter MacKay, the party's deputy leader, were among the prominent candidates re-elected in the region.
Early results were pouring into vote-rich Ontario. The Liberals, who captured 75 seats in 2004, are leading or elected in 46 ridings. But the Tories apper to have increased their support in early results and are leading or elected in 37 ridings. The NDP is leading in 14 ridings. The province, a Liberal stronghold, has 106 seats and is considered the key to victory. In the 2004 election, the Liberals captured 75 seats, the Tories took 24 while the NDP captured seven.
* FROM OCT. 25, 2005: Headline
Both Liberal Leader Paul Martin and Conservative Leader Stephen Harper campaigned heavily in the strategic province.
Many political observers have credited Harper for running a smooth campaign.
He regularly pumped out policy announcements throughout the unusually long 56-day campaign, leaving the Liberals mostly to react.
Martin campaigned on his record as finance minister and his implementation of eight consecutive balanced budgets. He also promised to lower personal income taxes, create a national child-care plan, ban handguns, subsidize post-secondary students and ban the federal use of the notwithstanding clause.
But he spent the last weeks of the campaign going after Harper. He accused him of having an extreme right-wing agenda that would threatened the rights of minorities and take away a woman?s right to choose
Unlike the 2004 election, the Tories were also able to keep their so-called controversial MPs in check. Indeed, reporters complained the party was purposely keeping some candidates away from the media spotlight.
In this campaign, it was the Liberals who were often in damage control mode.
In the early weeks of the campaign, Martin spokesman Scott Reid said parents would spend Harper?s child-care subsidy on "beer and popcorn." Later, the Ontario vice-president of the party resigned after he compared NDP candidate Olivia Chow to a dog.
Martin was also questioned about a series of attack ads, in particular one that suggested Harper would post armed soldiers on the streets of Canadian cities.
And just last week, Martin again was on the defensive, having to declare Harper?s patriotism after Canadian Auto Workers head Buzz Hargrove, who endorsed the Liberals, suggested the Tory leader was a separatist.
As Martin was forced to contend with the fallout of the sponsorship scandal, his party was hit with two RCMP probes, one into a possible government leak on income trusts and another into alleged illegal spending through the now-defunct unity lobby Option Canada. Opposition parties jumped on the investigations claiming it was proof of what they called more corruption in the Liberal ranks.
Michael Moore will difficult night.
Yikes, I meant:
Michael Moore will have a difficult night.
Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey hey, good bye you liberal scumbags!
Where will Poor Micheal and Alec baldwin move to now?
Canada run by conservatives, Chirac threatening nuclear first stikes. Oh dear!
Linda Ronstadt is deeply saddened
Harper is going to have a tough time of it. The Canadian media is against him and he is going to have to govern via coalition. Also, 12 years worth of bureaucratic and judicial appointees are going to do their best to slow him down.
Of course this is just CBC predictions.
It aint over till they tally up British Columbias votes
Yeah he will be fought against.
Lets hope that the people are with him on the big matters
I hear Tehran is due for some warm, sunny weather.
Or maybe that was "sun-like", I forget.
Joy to the world!
To our Canadian brothers and sisters: CONGRATULATIONS! Welcome to the Club!!!
Liberal Slogan:
"Vote for us and we'll increase taxes, take your guns, let hostile foreigners into the country, give Osama everything he wants, take your free speech and this is just the tip of the iceberg! See you at the polls!"
They can move to Venezuela.
Martin really fouled up with the gun issue.
He pissed the people of badly
Amen. Minority government in a parliamentary system ain't grand. Hey it's better than that crook Martin being in power, but it's going to be tough sledding. The benefits of conservatism don't come without some pain in the short run.
venezuela
Oh yeah the peoples republic of Venezuela!
Cuba is out because when Fidel kicks the bucket (soon) Cuba will open up to tourism and quickly embrace capitolism
It's a start, but there is a long, difficult road ahead.
wonder if fox news had something to do with this??
Thats right FNC is in Canada now arent they?
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