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.
Great news. Congratulations to Canadians.
Canada is becoming more of a possibility as a target destination if the time ever comes to flee a Nazi/Communist United States. Of course, Canada needs to rid itself of its Nazi gun laws first, as well as its ridiculous “hate speech” police.
Anybody in Canada know if those are realistic possibilities?
Thanks for the explanation. Great news!
Alberta is one of the most conservative areas on the continent. In this election more that 2/3 of the electorate voted for the Conservatives.
“Maybe it will rub off on the US electorate.”
After the USA comes back to economic reality, I’m pretty confident in a trickle down here.
*HONK*
I've been to Alberta and love it, but here in Ohio, I can not only own handguns but I can carry them concealed. Oh, and there's no pesky Human Rights Tribunal here, either.
Alberta is the most conservative place in Canada, but people there have less true freedom than they do in Massachusetts.
Thanks for the link!
The media was cheering on the NDP in the last days of the campaign with some reports describing the election as “too close to call.”
But my gut feeling was the rise of the NDP would hurt the Bloc in Quebec and the Liberal Party nationally, splitting votes so many ways Harper would finally win his majority.
Just like the Reform Party rose on the conservative side to destroy the old “Progressive Conservative Party” of Mulroney-Clark etc. etc. it looks like the NDP is now destroying the Liberal Party on the left side.
Yeah the only bad news is that the communist NDP will replace them. (This my view from the south: USA)!
Crossing Lake Ontario for good is looking pretty tempting right now.
He didn’t call this election. It was forced on him when the Liberals, the Bloc and the NDP passed a no-confidence vote charging the government with Contempt Of Parliament.
The voters saw it for what it was, a political stunt aimed at stroking their political egos.
It backfired badly last night.
Frigging awesome for them to stomp on their own ___ in this way.
Dang! Now Canada will be the better place to live :-(
Except in the winter.
Every winter when I'm in Florida, there are more plates from Ontario or Quebec than from Florida.
Summer in Canada is OK, but winter is brutal.
Ain't that the truth, I was on Fort Lauderdale Beach last year, and almost everyone I saw on the beach was speaking French.
Nova Scotia announced this last week that it is seeking to triple its number of immigrants.
That would be like Nancy Pelosi losing her seat - wow!
Are they more conservative than us? (half sarc half serious)
Who is it that you’re arguing with?
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