Harper's thin blue line

Voters put an end to 12 years of Liberal government yesterday but left the victorious Conservatives under Stephen Harper with a very tenuous hold on government. Helped by a dramatic breakthrough in Quebec and a slide of Liberal fortunes in Ontario, the Conservatives eked out a minority government that will make Harper, a 46-year-old economist, Canada's 22nd prime minister. Liberal Leader Paul Martin said he would not fight another election although he would remain as an MP. He promised to consult his new caucus and the party leadership “in the coming days” to ensure an orderly transition to a new leader. Canadians appeared to be saying they were tired of the scandals that had plagued the Liberals under Martin during his 26 months as prime minister and were ready to give a tentative embrace to a Conservative Party that pledged to clean up government while cutting taxes and cracking down on crime. Even though he was denied a majority, the election represented a significant victory for Harper who was given little chance of success when he took over the Conservatives more than two years ago after a merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservatives.

At the dissolution of Parliament, the Liberals held 133 seats in the Commons, while the Conservatives held 98, the Bloc Québécois 53 and the NDP 18. There were four independents and two seats were vacant. The Liberals entered the election campaign six percentage points ahead of the Conservatives but facing a restive electorate. The Liberals lost their government and the Conservatives won their minority with a change in about two dozen seats in Central Canada. The NDP under Jack Layton made its strongest showing in decades. The Bloc under Leader Gilles Duceppe maintained its stranglehold on Quebec, but fell short of its ambitions. Duceppe, who was re-elected in Montreal, set his sights high but did not meet expectations. He had bragged that his party would increase its standing to about 60 seats and claim more than 50% of the popular vote, showing clear support for sovereignty. But while his party will continue to dominate the province, it lost a handful of seats and hovered below 50% of the popular vote. When all the votes were counted, Canadians elected 124 Conservatives, 103 Liberals, 51 Bloc, 29 NDP and 1 Independent to represent them in the next Parliament.
(Globe and Mail, Wall Street Journal, (National Post 060124)

The popular vote breakdown is interesting. Even though the Green Party didn't get any seats, they garnered 4.5% of the popular vote nationally, and had 6.6% of the popular vote in Alberta! I'm not sure what to make of that, whether most people were protest voting and the Greens were the sure bet, or if there's really an awareness of a need for radical change out there, and if it's especially felt in this province in particular due to the increasing divide between rich and poor, have and have-not here. Interesting nonetheless. In my riding of Calgary Centre, the vote breakdown was this:

Party CON
Candidate Lee Richardson*
% of votes 55.4%
Votes 30213

Party LIB
Candidate Heesung Kim
% of votes 19.2%
Votes 10504

Party NDP
Candidate Brian Pincott
% of votes 13.3%
Votes 7232

Party GRN
Candidate John Johnson
% of votes 11.7%
Votes 6368

Party CAP
Candidate Trevor Grover
% of votes 0.5%
Votes 250