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.
Maybe it will rub off on the US electorate.
Harper gets a majority, CBC near suicidal, reports of crying at Liberal headquarters as they saw the results come in .... and now Ignatieff is declared the loser in his own riding.
Together with the news about OBL this morning ... God, what a beautiful day!!!
All I can say is that it is about damn time.
Canada Ping!
Congratulations Lads!
I think the story of the death of Osama bin Laden helped push the Conservatives ahead.
Yippee for the Canadians!!! Conservatives all the way...
This is VERY good news. We were being led to believe otherwise.
How do you get to stay as leader when you have had your ass handed to you in your own riding? Someone should clue him in that there is no “tenure” here.
ping
I’d like to thank Michael Ignatieff and various other Liberals for voting themselves out of a job ....
Bwaaaahahahaha!
Dang, Osama bin Laden is dead and the Canadian Conservatives get a majority. Truly a Monday for the ages in the Us AND here in Canada.
It’s GREAT to be North American!
too funny. People are starting to hate Harvard grads.
Dang, Osama bin Laden is dead and the Canadian Conservatives get a majority. Truly a Monday for the ages in the Us AND here in Canada.
It’s GREAT to be North American!
What’s a “conservative” in Canada? What a liberal is in Iowa?
Whle Canadian conservatives are to the left of American Republicans, it is the best we could have done here.
Liberal ass-wipes run a expatriate Harvard leftoid professor who decided to return to Canada and I guess put them back on the socialist track.
Good for Canada and I guess the commie rag Toronto Star can cry a little more about Harper's desire to “diminish the role of the government in shaping the future of Canada.” Let the people shape Canada's future and the government can sit by and watch !!!
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