F rom the Editor BERNIE MORTON
An Election for the Ages O
n the morning of May 3, Cana- dians woke to a federal political landscape never before seen.
The Shocking: The Liberals were reduced to just
The next four years promise to be exciting. The Liberals will begin to rebuild and try to remain relevant, the NDP will try to keep their traditional base happy while appeasing their new found friends in Quebec, and
the Conservatives will focus on governing and growing their
base across the country.
34 seats, and for the first time in their history are not either the Government or the Official Opposition. Leader Michael Ignatieff lost his Toronto seat and was forced to resign as Leader. The once Liberal stronghold – the Greater Toronto Area – crumbled, exposing numerous weaknesses in their support base and their campaign strategy to retain that base.
Adieu Gilles:
The Bloc Quebecois were humiliat- ed in Quebec and retained just 4 seats of their 49 entering the election. They lost Official Party Status. Their Leader, Gilles Duceppe, was forced to step down. Separatism at the federal level is all but dead…for the time being.
The Realignment: After serving as the minority Gov-
ernment Prime Minister for 1809 days, a record, Stephen Harper’s Conserva- tives were rewarded with a handsome 24-seat majority Government becom- ing the first majority elected since November, 2000. With the gradual decline of the Liberal Party over the past 7 years, the Conservatives officially became the new national governing Party with elected representation in every part of the country.
For the First Time: • The Green Party of Canada are now represented in the House of Commons with the election of their Leader, Elizabeth May. • 76 female MPs elected giving women a quarter of the seats in Parliament. • 29 visible minorities elected to Parliament.
• At 19, the NDP’s Pierre-Luc Dusseault becomes the youngest serving Member of Parliament in the history of Canada. He rep- resents the riding of Sherbrooke, Quebec.
As our guest writers and our regular columnists write in this issue, one dedicated to examining the impacts of the federal election, the next four years promise to be exciting. The Liber- als will begin to rebuild and try to remain relevant, the NDP will try to keep their traditional base happy while appeasing their new found friends in Quebec, and the Conservatives will focus on governing and growing their base across the country. Who will be successful remains uncertain at this early stage in the new realignment we now find ourselves in. But at least voters can rest knowing that the next federal election isn’t expected before October 19, 2015.
Bernie Morton Associate Editor - Canada
Il ya un nouveau shérif en ville: In Quebec… the NDP now hold 59 seats – Liberals 7 – CPC 5 – Bloc 4. In Ontario… the CPC now hold 73 seats - NDP 22 – Liberals 11. The dynamics have changed in these riding heavy and vote rich provinces.
June 2011 | Campaigns & Elections 5
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