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2008 Canadian federal election

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2008 Canadian federal election

← 2006 October 14, 2008 (2008-10-14) 2011 →

308 seats in the House of Commons
155 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout58.8% (Decrease5.9pp)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Stephen Harper by Remy Steinegger Infobox.jpg
Stéphane Dion.jpg
Leader Stephen Harper Stéphane Dion Gilles Duceppe
Party Conservative Liberal Bloc Québécois
Leader since March 20, 2004 December 2, 2006 March 15, 1997
Leader's seat Calgary Southwest Saint-Laurent—Cartierville Laurier—Sainte-Marie
Last election 124 seats, 36.27% 103 seats, 30.23% 51 seats, 10.48%
Seats before 127 95 48
Seats won 143 77 49
Seat change Increase16 Decrease18 Increase1
Popular vote 5,209,069 3,633,185 1,379,991
Percentage 37.65% 26.26% 9.98%[i]
Swing Increase1.38pp Decrease3.97pp Decrease0.50pp

  Fourth party Fifth party
 
Jack Layton-cr bl (cropped).jpg
Elizabeth May 2a.jpg
Leader Jack Layton Elizabeth May
Party New Democratic Green
Leader since January 24, 2003 August 27, 2006
Leader's seat Toronto—Danforth Ran in Central Nova (lost)
Last election 29 seats, 17.48% 0 seats, 4.48%
Seats before 30 1
Seats won 37 0
Seat change Increase7 Decrease1
Popular vote 2,515,288 937,613
Percentage 18.18% 6.78%
Swing Increase0.70pp Increase2.30pp


Prime Minister before election

Stephen Harper
Conservative

Prime Minister after election

Stephen Harper
Conservative

The 2008 Canadian federal election was held on October 14, 2008, to elect members to the House of Commons of Canada of the 40th Canadian Parliament after the previous parliament had been dissolved by Governor General Michaëlle Jean on September 7, 2008.

Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper called the election due to his belief that there was a lack of cooperation between the minority government Conservatives and the opposition parties, which the former had to rely on to pass legislation; hence Harper argued that Parliament had reached the end of its productiveness.

The election resulted in a second but stronger minority government for Harper's Conservatives. While they were a dozen seats away from a majority government, the Liberal Party led by Stéphane Dion lost 18 seats as the New Democratic Party and the Bloc Québécois made slight gains. The Green Party failed to win any seats and lost its only Member of Parliament. Following the election, the Liberals and New Democrats attempted to form a coalition government and topple the Conservatives from power, but were unsuccessful in doing so.

Background

[edit]

In 2007, Parliament passed a law fixing federal election dates every four years and scheduling the next election date as October 19, 2009, but the law did not limit the powers of the Governor General to dissolve Parliament at any time, such as when opposition parties bring down the government on a vote of confidence. In this election there was no loss of a non-confidence vote, but the Prime Minister asked the Governor General to call an election. The Governor General granted the Prime Minister's request.

2006 election

[edit]

64.7% of eligible voters cast ballots in the 2006 federal election. The Conservative Party received the most votes of any single party, with 36% of the vote, and won 124 seats (127 at dissolution). The Liberal Party won fewer seats than in 2004 – 103 seats (96 at dissolution), and 30% of the vote. The Bloc Québécois lost three seats, lowering its total to 51 seats (48 at dissolution), with 10.5% of the vote. The NDP retained its seats held at the dissolution of Parliament, and won 11 more, making its total 29 seats (30 at dissolution), with 17.5% of the vote. The Green Party received 4.5% of the vote, a minimal increase from the previous election, but did not win any seats (1 at dissolution). Independents and other parties constituted 1% of the total vote with one independent winning a seat.

Events since the 2006 election

[edit]
  Conservatives (143)
  Liberals (77)
  Bloc Québécois (49)
  New Democrats (37)
  Independent (2)

Since the 2006 election, seven Members of Parliament (MPs) had changed party: David Emerson, Wajid Khan, and Joe Comuzzi from Liberal to Conservative; Garth Turner from Conservative to Independent to Liberal; Blair Wilson from Liberal to Independent to Green; Louise Thibault from Bloc Québécois to Independent; and Bill Casey from Conservative to Independent. In by-elections, the NDP gained one seat from the Liberal Party, while the Conservative Party gained two seats, one from the Liberals and one from the Bloc Québécois. Four seats were vacant when the election was called: three previously held by the Liberal Party, one by the Bloc Québécois.

The parliament preceding this election was led by the Conservatives, who governed with the smallest plurality ever in the Canadian House of Commons, just 40.6% of the seats. Although the average length of a minority parliament in Canada is 1 year, 5 months, and 22 days (measured from the return of the writs after an election to the dissolution of that parliament), minorities led by the former Progressive Conservative Party have been much shorter: the longest previous Conservative minority was just 6 months and 19 days.[1] The 39th Parliament became Canada's longest serving Conservative minority on October 24, 2006.

On May 30, 2006, the Conservatives tabled Bill C-16, which would amend the Canada Elections Act to provide fixed election dates. The bill received royal assent on May 3, 2007. The bill states that there will be an election in 2009, and it would be the first to have a fixed election date, the third Monday in October (October 19, 2009). Despite the bill, on September 7, 2008, the Prime Minister sought the dissolution of the 39th Parliament, and the Governor General agreed to hold a general election on October 14, 2008.

On February 15, 2007, The Globe and Mail reported that the Conservatives were preparing for an election expected to be called shortly after the 2007 budget, due on March 19, 2007. Part of the reason for the timing of the election was given as strengthening Conservative poll numbers coupled with the desire to take advantage of the perception that Harper has "better leadership qualities than Liberal counterpart Stéphane Dion".[2]

On March 17, 2007, an internal Conservative Party memo was leaked to The Canadian Press, telling members that they "need to be ready to campaign within the next week". The memo asked members to donate $75 to $150 to help to fund the early stages of the election campaign. None of these predictions for a federal election to occur in 2007 proved true, but the majority of pundits still believed a federal election would be triggered before the fixed election date of October 19, 2009, for sometime in 2008.

Stephen Harper hinted at the possibility of dissolving parliament on August 14, 2008. Speaking in Newfoundland and Labrador, he cited Stéphane Dion as the main player in making Parliament become increasingly "dysfunctional". "I'm going to have to make a judgment in the next little while as to whether or not this Parliament can function productively," Harper said. This came after repeated confidence votes that resulted in the NDP and Bloc parties not voting in favour of the government, and the Liberal Party voting in favour or not attending the vote. Rumours of a possible fall election were further fuelled by Harper's announcement of a fourth federal by-election for September 22 in the Toronto riding of Don Valley West.[3][4]

On August 27, 2008, Harper asked Governor General Michaëlle Jean to cancel her trip to the Paralympic Games in Beijing, adding fuel to speculation that the Prime Minister would seek a dissolution. On September 7, 2008 after much speculation, Harper asked the Governor General to call a federal election on October 14, 2008.

Timeline

[edit]
  • February 6, 2006: Harper Cabinet is sworn in.
  • May 3, 2007: Bill C-16 receives Royal Assent. This bill states that the next election must be held on October 19, 2009, unless there is an earlier dissolution.
  • August 26, 2008: Harper indicates he may call an election for the fall of 2008; Parliament could be dissolved as early as the week of September 1–6.
  • August 29, 2008: Harper meets with Gilles Duceppe, the leader of the Bloc Québécois in an attempt to find common ground between the Bloc and the Conservatives.
  • August 30, 2008:
  • September 1, 2008: Harper meets with Stéphane Dion, the leader of the Liberals, in an attempt to find common ground between the Liberals and the Conservatives, and avert the dissolution of Parliament, allowing the fall session to continue as planned. However, after a twenty-minute meeting at 24 Sussex Drive, the PM's official residence, Dion emerges stating there is no common ground between the two parties, and that an election is certain.
  • September 5, 2008: The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) announces that Prime Minister Stephen Harper will visit the Governor General at 9:00 am on September 7, 2008 to ask for the dissolution of the 39th Parliament and a general election on October 14, 2008.[5]
  • September 7, 2008: Prime Minister Harper asks Governor General Michaëlle Jean to call a general election on October 14, 2008. She accepts the request.[6]
  • October 14, 2008: Elections held for members of the House of Commons in the 40th Canadian Parliament.[7]
  • November 4, 2008: Writs to be returned to the Chief Election Officer.[7]
  • November 18, 2008: 40th Parliament summoned.[8]
  • December 1, 2008: The Liberals and NDP sign agreement[9] on proposed coalition government to replace the governing Conservatives under Prime Minister Harper.[10]
  • December 1, 2008: The Liberals, NDP, and Bloc Québécois sign "policy accord"[11] whereby the Bloc would support a Liberal/NDP government for at least 18 months.[10]
  • December 4, 2008: Parliament prorogued by the Governor General during the parliamentary dispute on advice of the Prime Minister.[12]
  • January 26, 2009: Parliament to reconvene for second session.[12]

Pre-election

[edit]

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he was considering calling an election because of a lack of cooperation in Parliament, saying "all the signs indicate that this Parliament is at the end of its productiveness," while in Inuvik, Northwest Territories. The Conservative Party of Canada fueled rumours of an oncoming election when it released several campaign advertisements that focused on a range of issues, and attacked the Liberal Party of Canada for their proposed carbon tax. The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) confirmed that Harper would call an election for October 14 after meeting with New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton and Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe, which gave the Prime Minister little hope that a fall session of Parliament can be productive, PMO officials said.[13] Senior government officials announced on the first of September that Stephen Harper would ask the Governor General, Michaëlle Jean, to dissolve parliament and call an election for October 14, after he met with Liberal leader Stéphane Dion who called the meeting a "charade". Dion said the two were unable to agree on how to make the upcoming session of Parliament, slated to begin September 15, more productive.

Liberal Party members gathered in Winnipeg on September 2, for a three-day caucus which changed from preparing for a new parliamentary session to a strategy session to formulate a plan to attack the Conservatives while healing internal party rifts that have surfaced in recent weeks. Conservatives began spending at least $60 million on pre-election funding projects to a wide variety of institutions and groups. A few announcements have been big, including Industry Minister Jim Prentice's pledge of $25 million for the expansion of the Northlands exhibition facility in Edmonton. But the Tories have also announced a number of smaller projects, including $40,000 for the 2008 55+ Games and $25,000 for the Peace Window of the Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Winnipeg. The announcements have also been spread out across the country. The Atlantic region is to get more than $500,000 for youth jobs and eight cultural organizations. The Association of Book Publishers of British Columbia will receive $81,000. Jack Layton attacked the Conservative Party as bribing the public and doing the same thing they used to complain about the Liberals doing before elections.

A survey conducted by Environics found that 38 per cent of Canadians would vote for the Conservative party if an election were held immediately, 28 per cent would vote for the Liberal party, 19 for the NDP, eight for the Bloc Québécois and seven for the Green party. The poll shows Conservatives taking early leads in Ontario, British Columbia and the Prairies. In Atlantic Canada, Liberals still hold a strong majority, while in Quebec the Bloc Québécois leads while the Conservatives and Liberals are almost tied for second. When asked, most Canadians said the Conservatives would handle the economy better, while most said the Liberals would handle the environment better.

On September 7, Harper officially asked for the dissolution of Parliament, and called for an election on October 14.

Election campaign

[edit]

The 40th Canadian Federal Election campaign officially began at 8:20 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time when Governor General Michaëlle Jean accepted Stephen Harper's request to dissolve Parliament and call an election for October 14, 2008. The party leaders jumped right into the campaign, with Stéphane Dion attacking the Conservative's record, presenting the Liberal plan, and rejected the accusation by Harper that the Liberal party is a risky choice. Jack Layton took a more forceful approach than previous elections, in which the New Democratic Party has just tried to maintain a high number of seats in Parliament to influence government. Layton has made it clear he will campaign for the position of prime minister itself this time, but also returned to a longstanding NDP theme: alleged abuses by big business. He promised to stop what he called "ripoffs" by big oil, cellphone and banks, and his attacks are expected to focus on the Conservatives and all but ignore the Liberals. Elizabeth May of the Green Party said Canadians would care enough about the environment to vote for her party, as long as she was able to get into the television debates. Stephen Harper has stated his objection to including the Green Party into television debates because of the similar policies of the Green and Liberal party, and how it would be unfair. Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe said the Conservatives must be prevented from winning a majority, and the BQ is the only party that can do that. Duceppe compared Harper to US President George W. Bush, and said the government is incompetent.

Leaders' Debates

[edit]

The two Leaders' Debates of 2008, one each in French and English, included the leaders of five parties, Stephen Harper of the Conservatives, Stéphane Dion of the Liberals, Jack Layton of the NDP, Gilles Duceppe of the Bloc Québécois and Elizabeth May of the Green Party.

The French-language debate aired on Wednesday, October 1 from 8 to 10 p.m. EDT, moderated by Stéphan Bureau, a journalist and host. The English-language debate aired Thursday, October 2 from 9 to 11 p.m. EDT, with Steve Paikin of TVOntario as moderator.

Participation

[edit]

Three parties — the Conservatives, the Bloc Québécois and the NDP — opposed the inclusion of the Green Party, citing statements made by Green Party leader Elizabeth May to the effect that the best outcome of the election would be a Liberal-led government, and a deal struck between the Green Party and Liberals where the Liberals would not run in May's riding, Central Nova, and the Green party in Liberal leader Stéphane Dion's riding, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, which they say make May a "second Liberal candidate".[14]

Stephen Harper and Jack Layton are reported to have said that if the Green Party were included, they would not participate in the Leaders' Debates. Dion said that while he supports May's inclusion, he would not attend if Harper does not, and the Bloc Québécois has stated it will not boycott the debates if May is included.[15] The media consortium in charge of the debate, made up of the CBC, CTV, Global Television and TVA, had decided that it would prefer to broadcast the debates with the four major party leaders, rather than risk not at all or with minimal participation. The Green Party indicated they had begun procedures to lodge a formal complaint with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission,[16][17] as they have in past federal elections.

On September 10, Harper and Layton released statements that they would not oppose May's inclusion in the debate, citing public backlash and protests — with neither acknowledging making the threat of boycotting the debate — and that the media consortium would reconvene to discuss the matter. Layton stated that "debating about the debate" had become a "distraction", and that he had only one condition, that Stephen Harper be there. In response, spokespeople for Stephen Harper announced they would not stand alone in opposition to the Green Party's inclusion in the debates and also changed their position on the matter.[14] Later that day the consortium announced that May would be allowed to participate in the debate.[14]

Format change

[edit]

On September 30, Harper announced that he would ask for the 12 minutes on the economy scheduled for the Leader's Debate to be extended to an hour, citing that the 2007–2008 financial crisis "has deepened since the debate format was finalized", a change which would require agreement from the other parties in the debate to be approved. The NDP released a statement soon after that they supported the move, while public response has been concerned that other topics such as the environment would not end up with enough time to cover the issue.[18]

On October 1, the day of the first debate, it was announced that both debates would get extended time, from 12 to 30 minutes, for the economy, and leaders would not give opening and closing statements, to allow for longer discussions on the economy without removing time from other topics. It was also revealed that instead of leaders standing at individual podiums for the debate, as had been done in past years, the debate would be done in a round table format.[19]

Debates

[edit]
French debate
[edit]

Much of the French debate revolved around the economy and the environment, with the two topics repeatedly being brought up in discussions allotted for other topics. Stephen Harper came under criticism from every other leader in nearly every topic, especially the economy and environment, with the other party leaders stating that Harper's politics had led to Canada's current crises in those two areas. Their points included that Harper's environmental plan was considered the worst of all developed countries by organizations around the world, with Elizabeth May labeling it "a type of fraud",[20] and that his attempts to remove regulations in the financial sectors, similar to those done by the Bush administration in the United States, have led Canada to being nearly as hard hit by the 2007–2008 financial crisis as the United States.[20]

Continuous comparisons of Harper to George W. Bush were made over the course of the debate, with Jack Layton stating at one point that with Bush ending his presidency at the end of the year, Harper would be "the last leader of a developed country to follow the Bush doctrine".[20]

English debate
[edit]

Following the same tone as the French debate, much of the discussion revolved around the economy and the environment. The other four leaders keep criticizing Harper, especially for his lack of an economic platform despite asking for the format change to focus more on the economy due to the Great Recession, and instead using the time to criticize the economic platforms of the other leaders.[21] May lashed out at Harper for not understanding that Canadians were worried about their homes, jobs and finances, and comparing the current situation to Dutch disease, Dion stated that the only thing that keeps Canada from being hit as hard by the crisis as the US are laws created by the previous Liberal government that the Conservatives had been attempting to overturn, Duceppe repeatedly criticized Harper for financial practices and attitudes similar to the Bush administration, and Layton at one point stated that Harper's position showed he was either incompetent or uncaring to the situation, and asked which one he was, to which Harper did not respond. Harper also came under criticism for his laissez-faire attitude to the job sector, supporting primarily the oil companies and companies that outsource jobs in the manufacturing sector.

When it turned to the environment, the Carbon Tax proposal came up repeatedly, with both Dion and May supporting it, although May to more ambitious figures than Dion, pointing out it was the most recommended and proven way to deal with carbon emissions by countries and organizations around the world, noting the growth that Sweden and Germany have had with this system.[21] Harper criticized the plan, saying would increase taxpayers' burden and that Dion should be "honest with the people" that some environmental measures will cost the economy and said the plan includes $40 billion in carbon taxes and $26 billion in tax cuts.[21] Dion defended the Liberal's Green Shift, saying that "[Harper's statements are] not true at all", and that "for every dollar that we will raise, you will have a tax cut, and these tax cuts will be on your income".[21] Duceppe commented that he would like targets to be applied to individual provinces, thereby allowing Quebec to financially benefit due to already-implemented greenhouse gas reductions.[21] Layton, who favours a cap-and-trade system, said that it is a "figment of Mr. Harper's imagination" that emissions will fall under his plan.[21] When Harper sought to outline his government's record on other environmental fronts, giving examples of his minority government supported the preservation of hundreds of thousands of hectares of environmentally sensitive land through the Nature Conservancy of Canada, and that the government declared a protected marine area by Lake Superior and created a whale sanctuary by Baffin Island, May responded by saying "The only word he said that's true is on national parks".[21]

Layton also criticized Dion for his lack of accomplishments as official opposition during the minority government, and his party's previous leader's broken promises in areas such as Child Care and Pharmacare.[21]

Duceppe painted the Conservative government's $45 million in national arts and culture funding cuts as an assault on the province's identity, saying "How can you recognize the Quebec nation and then cut culture [funding], which is the soul of a nation?" followed by citing the economic benefits of culture.[21]

Harper also said he had erred in calling for Canada's participation in the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, saying "It was absolutely an error, it's obviously clear", adding that the claim of weapons of mass destruction proved false.[21]

Commenting on the debate, Layton said that he "thoroughly enjoyed" May's contributions to the debate.[22] Reporter Julie Van Dusen said that Harper managed to take the hits calmly, as "someone must have told him ... if you fight back or get too partisan, you're going to alienate voters, especially women".[22] Duceppe said he was happy to have forced Harper to admit his support of joining the Iraq war in 2003 was a mistake, adding he will use the admission in the campaign as "Exhibit A" that the Conservative leader lacks solid judgment skills, and that Harper was weakened when he confirmed he does not support a refundable tax credit for the manufacturing industry to encourage companies to improve productivity.[22]

Issues

[edit]

Arts

[edit]

Stephen Harper had cut $45 million from arts funding while in office, a move that drew much criticism from the other leaders and Quebec citizens, with most leaders seeking to restore the funding. The Conservatives have stated that the money is being reallocated to other arts and cultural programs, including various official languages projects, the 400th anniversary of Quebec City and projects connected with the 2010 Vancouver-Whistler Winter Olympic Games, although the Conservative's refusal to have a parliamentary review of their cuts and for a moratorium on the measures until the House of Commons Heritage Committee had a chance to hold hearings on culture and arts funding has most opposition members calling foul.[23]

Both Stéphane Dion and Jack Layton have promised to reverse the cut, with Dion also promising to increase funding to Canada Council for the Arts to $360 million, while Layton also promised to bring income averaging for artists to the national level and providing an annual tax exemption of $20,000 for income earned by copyright and residuals, stating that "one of the key things we must do, before we start giving $50-billion tax giveaways to banks and oil companies, is to protect and promote the arts" and "stable, sure and appropriate funding" for CBC/Radio-Canada while also protecting Telefilm Canada and the Canadian Television Fund.[23]

Harper has said that he believes that the issue is a "niche topic", and that "ordinary Canadians" are not particularly concerned with the issue.[24] A group of Canadian performers, which included Art Hindle, Wendy Crewson and Gordon Pinsent, held a press conference on September 24, saying the cuts would cripple the Canadian arts industry.[24]

On September 29, Harper unveiled a new tax credit plan worth an estimated $150 million a year to encourage parents to enroll their kids in arts programs like music and drama. The credit will apply on up to $500 of eligible fees for children under 16 who participate in eligible arts activities. Harper said that "[the Conservatives] spend a lot more on culture and arts" but "in a way that we ensure is an effective use of taxpayers' money and ultimately, in this case, benefits families and all of society as well". Harper has come under criticism when the week before he expressed his opinion that "ordinary working people were unable to relate to taxpayer-subsidized cultural elites when they see them at a rich gala on television".[25]

Alleged Cadman bribe attempt

[edit]

In early 2008 it was alleged that Independent MP Chuck Cadman of Surrey North, who was terminally ill with cancer at the time, had been offered a million dollar life insurance policy in exchange for voting against the proposed Liberal budget in May 2005, which he turned down. Under section 119 of the Criminal Code, it is illegal to bribe an MP. Accordingly, Opposition Liberal party Intergovernmental Affairs critic Dominic LeBlanc asked the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in February 2008 to investigate this allegation. In May 2008, the RCMP announced that there was not enough evidence to support charges.[26] Cadman died in July. The following month, Harper stated in a court deposition that any such million-dollar offer would have to be authorized by him, and that he did not issue any such authorization.[27][28] There is currently an ongoing legal battle between the Liberals and the Conservatives over the matter.

On September 24, while campaigning in Surrey North, Stephen Harper's campaign team barred reporters from talking with the local Conservative candidate, Dona Cadman, who is Chuck Cadman's widow. The campaign team called in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), and ordered them to "Keep [the reporters] out" while Cadman was taken away by staff. Harper spokesman Kory Teneycke later stated that he had not seen the incident, but the local candidates did not need to be interviewed, that "Local candidates' priority is campaigning in their local ridings, and not talking to the national media", and that it should be enough that they hold daily news conferences with the party's most prominent members.[29]

The incident has reminded people of Conservative tactics during the 2006 election, where attempts by the media to speak with local candidates were stopped by campaign personnel, especially the Harold Albrecht incident, where campaign officials forced Albrecht to stay in a restaurant kitchen when journalists attempted to interview him.[29]

The Conservatives chose former U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation agent Bruce Koenig to analyze a tape of reporter Tom Zytaruk interviewing Harper on the Cadman bribe attempt. The tape was a key piece of evidence in the ongoing legal battle. On October 10, Koenig announced that the tape had not been altered in any way, contrary to the claims by Stephen Harper that it had been altered.[30]

Canadian involvement in Afghanistan

[edit]

The ongoing involvement of the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan may also influence voters. Desmond Morton, a political science professor at McGill University suggested that the Conservatives could be blamed for the war because they have extended the mission twice, despite the fact that it was then Liberal Leader Jean Chrétien who was Canada's prime minister when Canada's current military involvement in Afghanistan first started in 2001. Both the Conservatives and Liberals have at various times agreed to extend the mission(s) to at least 2011, so this may result in some Canadians who are strongly against Canada's ongoing involvement, who might have otherwise typically voted either Liberal or Conservative in the past, to take their votes elsewhere in 2008.[31]

Cities and infrastructure

[edit]

Toronto Mayor David Miller has spoken out that the parties need to focus more on cities and their infrastructure, stating that 8 out of 10 Canadians live in cities, and that so far only the Green party has revealed a platform on the issue, with a national transit strategy and plans to give cities a permanent revenue source to help fix a growing infrastructure backlog. Miller stated he will not endorse a specific party, but urges people to choose a party that will "help cities thrive". He disagrees with Stephen Harper's opinion that "cities are not of national importance".[32]

On September 18, Stéphane Dion pledged to spend more than $70 billion over the next 10 years to improve Canada's infrastructure if elected, and budget surpluses that exceed a $3-billion contingency fund to infrastructure projects, particularly those with a green focus, calling Canada's cities and towns "the engines of our economy". Stephen Harper immediately lashed out at the spending proposal, saying Dion was "promising money no government could afford" and that the Conservative's infrastructure plans "are modest and affordable within the four-year budget we've published".[33]

On September 23, Montreal and Toronto mayors Gérald Tremblay and David Miller laid out their demands for urban municipalities, describing cities' current financial problems as a national issue, saying that cities have become the country's economic, social and cultural development engines and need appropriate support, and that they need better "fiscal tools" to continue their role as Canada's economic engines or the country will suffer. They listed Homelessness, traffic gridlock, crowded buses and overstretched police departments as just a few of the symptoms, that "These problems are too big and too important to be solved on the backs of property taxpayers" and that "in order to remain competitive, transport goods efficiently and attract new talent, our cities require quality infrastructure, affordable housing and first-rate recreational and cultural facilities". Jean Perrault, president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and mayor of Sherbrooke, Quebec, has stated that things like the Federal Gas Tax Fund were an important federal commitment, but that more is needed to tackle cities' overwhelming infrastructure needs.[34]

On September 29, Layton announced plans to direct one cent per litre of the gas tax, approximately $400 million a year, into transit projects across the country, and direct $350 million from the sale of carbon permits to big polluters, saying that "the major polluters would be the ones paying to make transit greener, not you and your families", and that "fighting climate change requires investing in transit, and that's what our plan does".[35]

Economy

[edit]

Polls have suggested that the economy is the major issue going into this election, especially with the resulting high price of gas, along with rising prices of other goods and services, such as food, and the possible impact the 2007–2008 financial crisis may have on Canada. Some experts say that Canada has just narrowly dodged a recession, although the economy is in its worst shape since 1991.[36]

Both Dion and Harper have said that the others' plans will lead Canada into a recession, while Dion also stated that Harper has "mismanaged a once-booming economy into one with growth dropping to among the lowest of the G8 nations".[33]

The Conservatives have stated possible negative consequences that could happen to the economy based on Liberal election promises if they were to be elected.[33] As of September 20, 2008, Liberal election promises have totaled in excess of $80 billion spending over the next decade.[37] In contrast, the cost of programs promised by the Conservatives to date is less than $2 billion annually.[37] Stephen Harper, the Prime Minister, has criticized the Liberal's spending promises, saying they are making "mind-boggling" spending plans that he predicts would send Canada into deficit.[37]

After the rejection of the proposed bailout of the United States financial system and resulting market fluctuation all over the world, including the Toronto Stock Exchange, Jack Layton called for Harper to call a special meeting for federal party leaders to discuss the potential effects of the U.S economic crisis on Canadians, suggestion the afternoon of October 1, since all leaders would be in Ottawa for the first Leaders' Debate that night. A spokesman for Harper later reported that Harper would not call such a meeting, and to save discussion for the Leader's Debate, as "[they] will have an opportunity later this week to debate—not behind closed doors but in front of all Canadians—the issues at stake not [just] for our economy but for our country".[38] Harper later announced that he would ask for the 12 minutes on the economy scheduled for the Leader's Debate to be extended to an hour, citing that the 2007–2008 financial crisis "has deepened since the debate format was finalized", a change which would require agreement from the other parties in the debate to be approved. The NDP released a statement soon after that they supported the move, while public response has been concerned that other topics such as the environment would not end up with enough time to cover the issue.[18] All the leaders supported the idea, and the opening and closing statements were dropped and the allotted time for the economy extended to 30 minutes without affecting the other topics.[19]

During the Leaders' Debates Harper repeatedly came under fire for lack of an economic plan in the current time of crisis and while campaigning, and for his lack of ability to explain how he would deal with the current crisis, merely repeating that Canada was unlikely to face such a crisis as he had made "different choices" than the US while in power without being able to explain what those different choices were, as all of his examples were immediately compared to practices done by the Bush administration, and insisted that Canadians "don't panic". In response to mounting pressure from the public, Harper announced on October 3 that he would reveal his party's platform, including economic matters, on October 7, one week before the election.[22]

Environment

[edit]

Shortly after the election was called, Harper was criticized for using a four-vehicle motorcade that included a van and SUV to travel the 395 m (1,296 ft) across the street from the door of 24 Sussex Drive to the door of Rideau Hall to dissolve parliament.[6] In return, the Conservatives criticized the Liberal party's decision to use a 29-year-old Boeing 737-200 for campaigning, saying that the older airplane's poor fuel efficiency demonstrates hypocrisy on environmental matters. Daniel Lauzon, a spokesperson for the Liberals, denied their airplane was substantially less efficient than the Conservatives' Airbus A319.[39]

The Tories have been previously criticized for backing out of Canada's commitments under the Kyoto Protocol.[40] Their new plan requires industries to reduce the rate at which they generate greenhouse gases, with a goal of reducing overall emissions by 45 to 65 percent by 2050.[41] The plan has been criticized by groups such as the Sierra Club, who called it "completely inadequate".[42] Criticism has focused on the use of "intensity-based" targets, for which emission reductions are relative to overall production, so overall emissions could potentially increase if production also increases.[41] This is in contrast to a "hard cap" on emissions, for which the overall amount cannot increase. The Conservatives' plan includes a hard cap to begin in 2020 or 2025,[41] while environmental groups have advocated for an immediate hard cap.[41][42]

The Liberals have developed a "Green Shift" plan, creating a carbon tax that will be coupled with reductions to income tax rates. The proposal was to tax greenhouse gas emissions, starting at $10 (Canadian) per ton of CO2 and reaching $40 (Canadian) per ton within four years. The plan would engage in revenue recycling by matching the tax with reductions in the income tax.[43] Criticism of the Green Shift plan has focused on its economic effects, with the Conservatives predicting it would cause a "big recession".[44] When pressed by reporters to provide evidence of this impact, Harper "wasn't able to cite a study that specifically modelled the impact of the Liberal Green Shift plan",[45] instead citing an older economic model about the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol.

One trucking association claimed the Liberal carbon tax plan could put up to 10,000 jobs in jeopardy in Moncton alone.[46] Environmental activist David Suzuki has come out in support of Dion's plan, saying "To oppose [the carbon tax plan], it's just nonsense. It's certainly the way we got to go"[47] and giving an interview explaining why it is the most effective way to solve the environmental crisis.[48]

The NDP's plan for the environment has focused on emissions trading, claiming their system will decrease greenhouse emissions by 80% by 2050.[49] The plan includes a series of financial incentives to retrofit public transit systems and transition the economy to be "green-collar". The plan would also halt new oil sands development until emissions have been capped.[50] Layton has also criticized the Liberal carbon tax plan, stating it taxes families instead of polluters.[51]

Equalization

[edit]

Danny Williams, the Progressive Conservative premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, launched a campaign called Anything But Conservative, primarily targeted at Harper and the federal Conservatives. He opposes a Conservative majority, due in part to Harper's promise during the 2006 election to modify the equalization formula to fully share offshore oil revenues with the province, which Williams says Harper has broken, and what Harper has stated he will do with a majority government.[52] Accordingly, all but one member of the provincial PC caucus supported not voting Conservative in this election.[citation needed]

Leo Power, a veteran of federal politics and the Conservative Party of Canada's campaign co-chair for Newfoundland and Labrador, said raising money and recruiting volunteers has proved difficult, and blames Williams's ABC campaign, saying it has cut deep into the federal election machine that is struggling to compete. Power has also said his party's best hope of winning a seat in the province is in the riding of Avalon with incumbent candidate Fabian Manning.[53] Manning was defeated by Liberal Scott Andrews, while St. John's East and St. John's South—Mount Pearl, which were represented by Conservatives not running for re-election, were won by the NDP and Liberals, respectively, leaving the Conservatives with no representatives in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Leadership

[edit]

Since before the election was announced, the Conservative party ran attack ads about Dion, saying he was not a capable leader. Dion criticized the Conservatives for running the ads.[54]

On October 9, Stephen Harper called into question the abilities of Liberal leader Dion after footage from the false starts of an interview on CTV Atlantic, and later rebroadcast on Mike Duffy Live, were aired to the public, and criticized Dion's grasp of the English language and the strength of the Liberals' plan for the Canadian economy. In the footage Dion repeatedly failed to understand the conditional perfect construction used by the interviewer in a single repeatedly asked question.

The footage shows interviewer Steve Murphy asking Dion the question: "If you were the Prime Minister now, what would you have done about the economy, and this crisis, that Mr. Harper has not done?". Dion had difficulty in understanding the question, repeatedly asking Murphy to clarify if he meant if Dion was Prime Minister now, next Tuesday on election day, last week, last month, 60 weeks ago, or two and a half years ago. Eventually, after three start overs to the interview, Dion responded with what he would do if elected Prime Minister in the future. CTV initially agreed to restart the interviews and not air the false starts but changed their minds and announced that they felt it was their responsibility to show it.[55] Harper responded to the clips by saying that "When you're running a trillion-and-a-half-dollar economy you don't get a chance to have do-overs, over and over again" and "What this incident actually indicates very clearly is Mr. Dion and the Liberal Party really don't know what they would do on the economy", and when told that the difficulties were in part due to English being Dion's second language, Harper said: "I don't think this is a question of language at all. The question was very clear. It was asked repeatedly".[56][57][58][59]

Mark Dunn, a spokesman for Dion, accused the Tories of making fun of the Liberal leader's hearing issues. Dion responded to Harper's comments, saying Harper had "no class", saying "I did not understand the question", and "Maybe it's because I have a hearing problem, maybe because [English is] my second language, but I did not understand the question".[60] Both the Conservatives and the CTV have come under criticism for their handling of the footage, but they have stated they stand by their actions.[60] Duceppe has called Harper's comments a "double standard", saying that many English-speaking politicians have little or no ability to speak French, yet francophones are somehow always expected to be perfect, and that the attack was an attempted "low blow". But Duceppe also took the opportunity to criticise Dion, suggesting he understood the question. "The real question is that I think Dion understood the question. The real problem wasn't the language, it was the substance," Duceppe said, "He had nothing to say".[61] Layton also defended Dion, saying he has "struggled with questions, too".[61]

Former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien has come out criticizing Harper's leadership abilities, noting especially Harper's controlling ways with his cabinet ministers, saying he would have quit if former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau had treated him that way, that "Mr. Dion was a minister for nine years. And Mr. Harper arrived there with no experience and it shows", that the phrase 'Tory times are bad times', in use since the 1930s, was still true and that "Harper destroyed 50 years of relationships with China", Canada's second biggest trading partner after the US, noting both past Liberal and Progressive Conservative governments sought to maintain its dealings with the key trading partner. Former Prime Minister Paul Martin has also supported Dion's plans and abilities, and many have noted Dion's ability to get both Chrétien and Martin to support him, despite Chrétien and Martin's ongoing feud.[62]

Listeriosis outbreak

[edit]

The Minister of Agriculture Gerry Ritz, who has already been criticized by Canada's food scientists for his handling of the 2008 listeriosis outbreak,[63] has also been criticized for making inappropriate comments, further angering the families of those affected.[citation needed] Ritz had joked about the outbreak while he was on a conference call with scientists and political staffers on August 30, saying the political fallout from the outbreak was "like a death by a thousand cuts, or should I say cold cuts". In addition, when he was informed of a listeriosis-related death in Prince Edward Island, he quipped: "Please tell me it's [Liberal agriculture critic] Wayne Easter". Despite calls for Ritz's resignation from the other parties and the public, Stephen Harper has supported Ritz and rebuffed calls for his resignation.[64]

The Public Service Alliance of Canada revealed to the media that the Conservative party plans to cut federal funding to meat inspection programs by $3 million, effectively ending their operation in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and British Columbia.[65]

Speech plagiarism

[edit]

On September 30, it was revealed by Bob Rae of the Liberal Party that on March 20, 2003, Stephen Harper had plagiarized a speech that called for troops to be deployed to Iraq to assist the US invasion from Australian Prime Minister John Howard, which Howard had delivered two days before, on March 18.[66]

Following Rae's statement, Harper's spokesman Kory Teneycke dismissed the issue as irrelevant, saying "I'm not going to get into a debate about a five-year-old speech that was delivered three Parliaments ago, two elections ago, when the prime minister was the leader of a party that no longer exists".[66]

The Canadian Alliance staff member and former Fraser Institute policy analyst, Owen Lippert, who wrote that speech was working on the current election campaign at Conservative campaign headquarters. On September 30, 2008 he issued a statement and resigned as a result of the incident.[67]

He stated:

Pressed for time, I was overzealous in copying segments of another world leader's speech. Neither my superiors in the Office of the Leader of the Opposition nor the leader of the Opposition was aware that I had done so.[67]

On October 3, there was a second plagiarism allegation from the Liberals, who said that Harper had copied several sentences from a speech by former Ontario premier Mike Harris. Harper denied the allegation, saying "we're talking about a couple of sentences of fairly standard political rhetoric".[68]

On October 6, the Conservatives contended that Dion had also committed plagiarism when, as Minister of the Environment in 2005, he went to a United Nations conference on climate change to deliver a speech which had substantial similarities to the executive summary of a year old UN report. The Liberal party did not respond to the plagiarism allegation.[69][70]

Controversies

[edit]

Missing ballot boxes

[edit]
Graphic display of results of 2008 Canadian federal election across the provinces.

In Quebec City, several ballot boxes containing votes from advance polls disappeared after the close of advance polling on October 7. The boxes were stored in a closet at the home of a deputy returning officer.[71] Although there was no tampering of the boxes or the votes, three deputy returning officers were fired.[72] Deputy returning officers are the only polling officials allowed to handle ballots during the vote count and the law did allow for them to store the sealed boxes as may be necessary in large remote rural ridings. However the boxes were returned a day late after the riding returning officer ordered their return.[73]

Strategic voting

[edit]

A number of political leaders and popular websites supported strategic voting in the election, mostly against the Conservative Party. The reasons varied from regional, such as Newfoundland and Labrador premier Danny Williams and his "Anything But Conservative" campaign, to ideological. The popular website VoteForEnvironment.ca, which received over one million page views in the first 12 days of its existence[74] and whose founders were interviewed on CBC and other mainstream media, showed regional breakdowns per riding and offered recommendations based on which candidate was most likely to beat the Conservative candidate. If the Conservative candidate had little chance of winning the riding or was strongly entrenched, the site recommended "vote with your heart". Similarly, a vote swapping organization on Facebook entitled "Anti-Harper Vote Swap Canada" also gained press.[75] The premise of that organization is that eligible voters in different electoral districts may exchange their votes, so that an opponent of a Conservative candidate in each district might have a better chance of being elected in that district. Elections Canada deemed the practice legal.[76]

Green Party leader Elizabeth May sent out mixed signals about strategic voting. On October 12, she recommended that in close ridings, supporters of green policies should consider voting for the NDP or Liberals to defeat the Conservatives,[77] but on the same day she said: "I do not support strategic voting and I have not advised voters to choose any candidate other than Green".[78] In addition, during the final days of the campaign the Liberals attempted to attract strategic NDP and Green votes to stop the Conservatives, and the Conservatives attempted to attract Bloc votes to stop the Liberals.[79]

Voter identification

[edit]

Some students, homeless, and transient voters were turned away at the polls when they were unable to provide identification showing or otherwise confirming a place of residence. Legislation introduced in 2007 requires all voters to show one or two pieces of identification which confirm the voter's name and address, or to be vouched for by another voter who is able to show such identification.[80]

Region Turnout (%)
Alberta 52.9
British Columbia 61.0
Manitoba 56.8
New Brunswick 62.8
Newfoundland and Labrador 48.1
Northwest Territories 48.6
Nova Scotia 60.7
Nunavut 49.4
Ontario 59.1
Prince Edward Island 69.5
Saskatchewan 59.4
Quebec 61.1
Yukon 63.7

Voter turnout

[edit]

Voter turnout at 58.8% was the lowest in Canadian election history.[81] All federally funded parties except for the Greens attracted fewer total votes than in 2006; the Greens received nearly 280,000 more votes. The Conservatives lost about 170,000 votes, the Liberals 850,000, the Bloc 170,000 and the NDP 70,000. Some voters were at first turned away because of failure to meet new and stricter proof of address requirements, including 2/3 of those attempting to vote at Dalhousie University, for example. The effect this may have had on voter turnout is unknown.[82]

Judicial recounts

[edit]

In a federal election, a judicial recount is automatically ordered in a riding where the margin of victory is less than 0.1% (one one-thousandth) of the votes cast. In cases where there is a larger but still narrow margin of victory, an elector can request a judicial recount.

Judicial recounts were ordered in six ridings. In one case, Brossard—La Prairie, the judicial recount overturned the reported victor, giving the seat to the Liberals' Alexandra Mendès instead of the Bloc incumbent Marcel Lussier.

In four other ridings, the recount confirmed the election results, although Liberal Ujjal Dosanjh's margin in Vancouver South was reduced from 33 votes to just 20.[83][84] This was the slimmest victory of any riding in the entire election, until the results of the Kitchener-Waterloo recount reduced Peter Braid's margin of victory to a mere 17 votes. Dosanjh's Conservative opponent, Wai Young, appealed the recount to the Supreme Court of British Columbia, citing that not all of the ballot boxes were fully recounted.[85] All ballots were eventually counted by November 4, confirming Dosanjh's victory by 20 votes, after the initial partial recount indicated a margin of 22 votes.

In a sixth riding, the recount was cancelled when the elector who had requested it withdrew the request.

Riding Initial validated results - First and second place Recount type Recount date Judicially certified results - First and second place
Candidate Votes % Candidate Votes %
Egmont, PEI   Gail Shea, Con. 8,122 44.0% Requested October 23, 2008   Gail Shea, Con. 8,110 43.9%
  Keith Milligan, Lib. 8,060 43.6%   Keith Milligan, Lib. 8,055 43.6%
Brossard—La Prairie, QC   Marcel Lussier, BQ 19,202 32.6% Requested October 24, 2008   Alexandra Mendès, Lib. 19,103 32.6%
  Alexandra Mendès, Lib. 19,110 32.4%   Marcel Lussier, BQ 19,034 32.5%
Brampton West, ON   Andrew Kania, Lib. 21,739 40.3% Requested November 6, 2008   Andrew Kania, Lib. 21,746 40.3%
  Kyle Seeback, Con. 21,516 39.9%   Kyle Seeback, Con. 21,515 39.9%
Kitchener—Waterloo, ON   Peter Braid, Cons. 21,851 36.1% Automatic October 31, 2008   Peter Braid, Cons. 21,830 36.1%
  Andrew Telegdi, Lib. 21,803 36.0%   Andrew Telegdi, Lib. 21,813 36.0%
Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca, BC   Keith Martin, Lib. 20,042 34.2% Requested Judicial recount terminated at the request of the elector who had requested it
  Troy DeSouza, Con. 19,974 34.1%
Vancouver South, BC   Ujjal Dosanjh, Lib. 16,101 38.5% Automatic November 4, 2008   Ujjal Dosanjh, Lib. 16,110 38.5%
  Wai Young, Con. 16,068 38.4%   Wai Young, Con. 16,090 38.4%

Candidates

[edit]
Conservative
[edit]

Chris Reid, the Conservative candidate from Toronto Centre, resigned over controversial statements on his blog, which advocated revising Canadian gun control legislation to legalize concealed carriage of handguns.[86] He was replaced by David Gentili.

The Conservatives apologized after an aide to Pontiac candidate Lawrence Cannon told Aboriginal protesters that they were free to meet with Cannon "if you behave and you're sober and there's no problems and if you don't do a sit down and whatever".[87]

Liberal
[edit]

Liberal candidate Simon Bédard was also asked to resign after he reiterated his 1990 comments, suggesting that lethal force should have been used in the Oka Crisis.[88][89]

Liberal candidate Lesley Hughes was dropped by the Liberal Party after making controversial comments about the September 11, 2001 attacks. She continued to campaign as an independent, though she appeared as a Liberal on the ballot.[90]

NDP
[edit]

Andrew McKeever, an NDP candidate in Durham, announced on October 3 that he would resign from the election campaign after it was revealed that he had posted comments on Facebook in which he called one war activist a "fascist bitch" and threatened to beat up another person. Mr. McKeever wrote comments peppered with expletives and calling the operators of a war resister website "Nazis". McKeever was also quoted as saying "I like the part in Schindler's List when the guard starts waxing the prisoners." McKeever's decision to drop out of the race came with just over a week left in the campaign, meaning his name would remain on the ballot. One week before the publication of McKeever's resignation, NDP leader Jack Layton defended McKeever and refused to make him step down.

Julian West, the candidate for the riding of Saanich—Gulf Islands, dropped out of the race after details surfaced about an environmental event he attended 12 years ago when he went skinny-dipping and asked two teenagers to body-paint him. Two other candidates in British Columbia who were proponents of marijuana decriminalization — Dana Larsen and Kirk Tousaw — resigned earlier after videos they had produced for Internet site Pot-TV were released to the media. One of the videos, filmed in 2000, showed Mr. Larsen, former leader of the BC Marijuana Party, preparing to light up a joint before driving a car, after having taken the short-acting hallucinogenic drug DMT earlier in the evening.[91][92]

Green
[edit]

John Shavluk, the Green candidate in Newton—North Delta, was removed from the party's slate of candidates on September 4, just before the election call, after it was revealed that he had previously published comments in his blog about the September 11 attacks in 2001, in which he referred to the World Trade Center as "the shoddily built Jewish world bank headquarters".[93] He was replaced by Liz Walker as the Green Party candidate, but remained on the ballot as an independent.

Independent
[edit]

At an all-candidates debate staged for a high school student audience in Sudbury on September 29, independent candidate David Popescu responded to a question about same-sex marriage by stating that "homosexuals should be executed". His remarks were widely criticized across Canada, and the Greater Sudbury Police Service announced an investigation into whether the comments constituted a crime under Canadian hate speech legislation.[94] He was subsequently investigated by the Toronto Police as well, after a radio interview on October 2 in which he specifically advocated the execution of Egale Canada executive director Helen Kennedy.[95]

Vandalism

[edit]

Supporters of Ontario Liberal MPs Carolyn Bennett (St. Paul's) and Gerard Kennedy (Parkdale—High Park) who had Liberal signs outside their houses were subject to vandalism during the later hours of October 3, including graffiti, phone and cable lines being cut, and damage to vehicles that included brake cutting. Toronto police reported over 30 incidents of vandalism as of October 6.[96] Some of the victims did not realize their brakes had been cut until they were in traffic, and there was at least one near-accident.[97] Liberal Senator Jerry Grafstein was one of the residents who reported vandalism to his car.[98]

Vandalism was also reported at the campaign offices of Trinity—Spadina Liberal candidate Christine Innes and Beaches—East York New Democratic Party candidate Marilyn Churley,[98] as well as in Niagara Falls.[99]

Legality of the election

[edit]

After the election was called, Democracy Watch, an Ottawa-based advocacy group, filed a legal suit claiming that the election call was illegal[100] because it violated the 2007 amendments to the Canada Elections Act. These amendments, introduced by the Harper government, set fixed dates for elections, and fulfilled a 2006 promise made by Harper to end the Prime Minister's ability to call snap elections.

On September 17, 2009, the Federal Court of Canada ruled that the election was not unfair, and therefore not illegal. Democracy Watch's appeal to the Federal Court of Appeal was also dismissed, and the Supreme Court denied leave to hear a further appeal.[101]

Target seats

[edit]

The following is a list of ridings which had narrowly been lost by the indicated party in the 2006 election. For instance, under the Liberal column are the 15 seats in which they came closest to winning but did not. Listed is the name of the riding, followed by the party which was victorious (in parentheses) and the margin, in terms of percentage of the vote, by which the party lost.

These ridings were targeted by the specified party because the party had lost them by a very slim margin in the 2006 election.

Up to 15 are shown, with a maximum margin of victory of 15%.

* Indicates incumbent not running again. To clarify further; this is a list of federal election winners with their party in parentheses, and their margin as a percentage of the vote over the party whose list the seat is on (not the same as the margin of victory if the party potentially "targeting" the seat in that list did not finish second in the previous election). "Won" means that the targeting party won the seat from the incumbent party. "Held" means the incumbent party held the seat.

Conservative Liberal
  1. Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK (Lib) 0.3%* (won)†
  2. Brant, ON (Lib) 0.9% (won)
  3. West Nova, NS (Lib) 1.1% (won)
  4. Vancouver Island North, BC (NDP) 1.1% (won)
  5. Oakville, ON (Lib) 1.3% (won)
  6. West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC (Lib) 1.5% (won)‡
  7. Huron—Bruce, ON (Lib) 1.8%* (won)
  8. London West, ON (Lib) 2.2% (won)
  9. Madawaska—Restigouche, NB (Lib) 2.4% (held)
  10. Newton—North Delta, BC (Lib) 3.6% (held)
  11. Saint Boniface, MB (Lib) 3.6% (won)
  12. Saint John, NB (Lib) 3.6% (won)
  13. Mississauga South, ON (Lib) 4.1% (held)
  14. Richmond, BC (Lib) 4.1% (won)
  15. Random—Burin—St. George's, NL (Lib) 4.7% (held)
  1. Parry Sound-Muskoka, ON (Con) <0.1% (held)
  2. Winnipeg South, MB (Con) 0.3% (held)
  3. Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON (Con) 0.4% (held)
  4. Tobique—Mactaquac, NB (Con) 0.9% (held)
  5. St. Catharines, ON (Con) 1.1% (held)
  6. Ahuntsic, QC (BQ) 1.7% (held)
  7. Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC (Con) 1.9% (held)
  8. London—Fanshawe, ON (NDP) 1.9% (held)
  9. Ottawa—Orléans, ON (Con) 2.0% (held)
  10. Simcoe North, ON (Con) 2.0% (held)
  11. Brossard—La Prairie, QC (BQ) 2.2% (won)
  12. Papineau, QC (BQ) 2.2% (won)
  13. Burnaby—Douglas, BC (NDP) 2.6% (held)
  14. Barrie, ON (Con) 2.7% (held)
  15. Kitchener—Conestoga, ON (Con) 2.7% (held)
Bloc Québécois New Democratic
  1. Louis-Hébert, QC (Con) 0.4% (won)
  2. Beauport—Limoilou, QC (Con) 1.6% (held)
  3. Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC (Con) 2.7% (held)
  4. Hull—Aylmer, QC (Lib) 3.3% (held)
  5. Honoré-Mercier, QC (Lib) 3.8% (held)
  6. Pontiac, QC (Con) 5.0% (held)
  7. Laval—Les Îles, QC (Lib) 6.1% (held)
  8. Outremont, QC (Lib) 6.3%¹ (held by NDP)
  9. Bourassa, QC (Lib) 11.4% (held)
  10. Jonquière—Alma, QC (Con) 12.8% (held)
  11. Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC (Ind) 13.9% (held)
  1. Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON (Lib) 1.0%* (won)
  2. Newton—North Delta, BC (Lib) 1.6% (held)
  3. Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON (Lib) 1.7% (won)
  4. Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, ON (Lib) 3.7% (won)
  5. Nickel Belt, ON (Lib) 4.6%* * (won)
  6. Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca, BC (Lib) 4.6% (held)
  7. Welland, ON (Lib) 4.8% (won)
  8. Oshawa, ON (Con) 5.2% (held)
  9. Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge—Mission, BC (Con) 5.2% (held)
  10. Beaches—East York, ON (Lib) 5.4% (held)
  11. Kenora, ON (Lib) 5.7% (won by Conservatives)
  12. Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar, SK (Con) 6.5%* (held)
  13. Central Nova, NS (Con) 7.8% (held)
  14. South Shore—St. Margaret's, NS (Con) 8.3% (held)
  15. Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC (Con) 8.3% (held)

† Won by the Conservatives[102] in an intervening by-election with more than a 15% margin over the Liberals.
‡ The incumbent had become an independent and was sitting as a Green at the time of dissolution.
¹ Won by the NDP in an intervening by-election with more than a 19% margin over the Liberals.

Lawn signs for all the major candidates decorate an intersection during the London North Centre by-election

Targeted Cabinet ministers

[edit]

The following Cabinet ministers were elected by a margin of less than 10% in 2006:

  1. Tony Clement, Health and Federal Economic Initiative for Northern Ontario: 0.1% over Lib in Parry Sound-Muskoka, ON
  2. Lawrence Cannon, Transport, Infrastructure and Communities: 5.0% over BQ in Pontiac, QC
  3. Jim Flaherty, Finance: 5.7% over Lib in Whitby—Oshawa, ON
  4. Rob Nicholson, Justice: 5.9% over Lib in Niagara Falls, ON
  5. Peter MacKay, Defence and Atlantic Opportunities: 7.8% over NDP in Central Nova, NS
  6. John Baird, Environment: 9.0% over Lib in Ottawa West—Nepean, ON

Potential fall of government

[edit]
Pie chart detailing the percentage of seats won in the House of Commons

On December 1, 2008, as the result of opposition dissatisfaction with the government's economic update (which failed to include stimulus measures to help the Canadian economy contend with the global crisis and included a 'poison pill' regarding the cessation of public party financing), the leaders of the Liberal Party, New Democratic Party, and Bloc Québécois announced they had reached an agreement to approach the Governor General for the purpose of forming a coalition government. Combined, the three opposition parties constitute a majority of seats in the House of Commons. Parliament was due to vote on a no-confidence motion on December 8; if successful, the Liberals and NDP would have formally asked the Governor General to form a coalition minority government for 30 months, while the BQ pledged to support for at least 18 months. Liberal leader Stéphane Dion would have become prime minister until the selection of his successor at the Liberal leadership convention in May 2009, and a coalition cabinet would have comprised 18 Liberal (including a finance minister) and 6 NDP ministers. Governor General Michaëlle Jean had cut short a state visit to Europe "in light of the current political situation in Canada".[10] On December 4, 2008, Jean granted Harper's request to prorogue Parliament until January 26, 2009, thereby staving off the prospect of an imminent change in government.[103] Dion stood down as Liberal leader on December 10 and was replaced by interim leader Michael Ignatieff, who would later be elected unopposed as permanent leader.[104] Ignatieff soon ended the coalition agreement with the other two parties, motivated largely in part by Harper's publicly indicating that he would advise Jean to hold a new election (which, under the precedent set by the King–Byng affair, she would have been obligated to do) rather than recommending that Ignatieff be allowed to form a minority government should the government lose a confidence vote,[105] and polling indicating that any such election would almost certainly result in the Conservatives winning a strong majority.[106]

Opinion polls

[edit]
Plot of Opinion Polls during the election period

Endorsements

[edit]

Candidates by party

[edit]

Results

[edit]
Elections to the 40th Canadian Parliament (2008)[107][108][109]
Party Leader Candidates Votes Seats
# ± % Change (pp) 2006 2008 ± G L
Conservative Stephen Harper 307[a] 5,209,069 165,002Decrease 37.65 1.38 1.38
 
124
143 / 308
19Increase 25 6
Liberal Stéphane Dion 307[b][c] 3,633,185 846,230Decrease 26.26 -3.97
 
103
77 / 308
26Decrease 5 31
New Democratic Jack Layton 308[d] 2,515,288 74,309Decrease 18.18 0.70 0.7
 
29
37 / 308
8Increase 11 3
Bloc Québécois Gilles Duceppe 75 1,379,991 173,210Decrease 9.98 -0.51
 
51
49 / 308
2Decrease 1 3
Green Elizabeth May 303 937,613 273,545Increase 6.78 2.30 2.3
 
Independent 71 94,844 12,984Increase 0.69 0.13 0.13
 
1
2 / 308
1Increase 1
Christian Heritage Ron Gray 59 26,475 1,677Decrease 0.19
Marxist–Leninist Anna Di Carlo 59 8,565 415Decrease 0.06
Libertarian Dennis Young 26 7,300 4,298Increase 0.05 0.03
Progressive Canadian Sinclair Stevens 10 5,860 8,291Decrease 0.04 -0.05
Communist Miguel Figueroa 24 3,572 550Increase 0.03 0.01
Canadian Action Connie Fogal 20 3,455 2,647Decrease 0.02 -0.02
Marijuana Blair Longley 8 2,298 6,873Decrease 0.02 -0.05
neorhino.ca François Gourd 7 2,122 2,122Increase 0.02 New
Newfoundland and Labrador First Tom Hickey 3 1,713 1,713Increase 0.01 New
First Peoples National Barbara Wardlaw 6 1,611 410 Increase 0.01
Animal Alliance Liz White 4 527 455Increase
Work Less Conrad Schmidt 1 425 425Increase New
  Western Block Doug Christie 1 195 899Decrease -0.01
People's Political Power Roger Poisson 2 186 186Increase New
Total 1,601 13,834,294 100.00%
Rejected ballots 94,799 3,255Increase
Turnout 13,929,093 979,610Decrease 58.83% 5.84Decrease
Registered voters 23,677,639 623,024Increase

Synopsis of results

[edit]
Results by riding — 2008 Canadian federal election[107][108][109]
Riding 2006 Winning party Turnout
[a 1]
Votes[a 2]
Party Votes Share Margin
#
Margin
%
Con Lib NDP BQ Green Ind Other Total
 
AB Calgary Centre Con Con 26,085 55.60% 17,683 37.69% 53.16% 26,085 8,402 4,229 7,778 420 46,914
AB Calgary Centre-North Con Con 27,361 56.54% 19,948 41.22% 56.29% 27,361 5,699 7,413 7,392 529 48,394
AB Calgary East Con Con 21,311 66.47% 17,543 54.72% 41.79% 21,311 3,255 3,768 3,403 323 32,060
AB Calgary Northeast Con Con 18,917 51.52% 11,484 31.27% 44.39% 18,917 7,433 3,279 2,045 4,836 211 36,721
AB Calgary—Nose Hill Con Con 35,029 69.62% 28,372 56.39% 53.86% 35,029 6,657 3,941 4,685 50,312
AB Calgary Southeast Con Con 41,425 73.89% 35,689 63.66% 57.15% 41,425 4,878 4,024 5,736 56,063
AB Calgary Southwest Con Con 38,548 72.96% 33,630 63.65% 58.39% 38,548 4,918 4,102 4,743 521 52,832
AB Calgary West Con Con 34,579 57.36% 21,375 35.46% 60.96% 34,579 13,204 3,832 6,722 1,790 155 60,282
AB Crowfoot Con Con 39,342 82.03% 35,559 74.15% 54.86% 39,342 1,958 3,783 2,875 47,958
AB Edmonton Centre Con Con 22,634 49.04% 9,973 21.61% 51.57% 22,634 12,661 6,912 3,746 203 46,156
AB Edmonton East Con Con 21,487 51.32% 8,169 19.51% 45.43% 21,487 4,578 13,318 2,488 41,871
AB Edmonton—Leduc Con Con 33,174 63.21% 23,940 45.61% 56.64% 33,174 9,234 5,994 4,081 52,483
AB Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont Con Con 25,130 60.32% 17,421 41.82% 52.09% 25,130 7,709 6,297 2,366 157 41,659
AB Edmonton—St. Albert Con Con 31,436 61.65% 23,391 45.87% 53.67% 31,436 7,441 8,045 4,072 50,994
AB Edmonton—Sherwood Park Con Con 17,628 35.84% 1,668 3.39% 55.09% 17,628 5,575 6,339 3,678 15,960 49,180
AB Edmonton—Spruce Grove Con Con 36,402 68.55% 29,775 56.07% 53.52% 36,402 6,099 6,627 3,975 53,103
AB Edmonton—Strathcona Con NDP 20,103 42.58% 463 0.98% 62.86% 19,640 4,279 20,103 3,040 147 47,209
AB Fort McMurray—Athabasca Con Con 17,160 67.12% 13,860 54.21% 35.82% 17,160 2,710 3,300 1,628 350 419 25,567
AB Lethbridge Con Con 31,714 66.96% 24,981 52.74% 53.29% 31,714 4,404 6,733 3,420 1,094 47,365
AB Macleod Con Con 35,328 77.36% 31,167 68.25% 56.39% 35,328 2,703 3,053 4,161 422 45,667
AB Medicine Hat Con Con 26,950 70.87% 22,763 59.86% 46.20% 26,950 2,639 4,187 2,338 1,551 363 38,028
AB Peace River Con Con 29,550 69.51% 23,426 55.11% 44.24% 29,550 2,843 6,124 3,303 689 42,509
AB Red Deer Con Con 33,226 73.24% 28,186 62.13% 49.87% 33,226 2,863 5,040 4,239 45,368
AB Vegreville—Wainwright Con Con 34,493 77.09% 30,263 67.64% 54.03% 34,493 2,345 4,230 3,676 44,744
AB Westlock—St. Paul Con Con 27,338 72.71% 23,529 62.58% 51.13% 27,338 3,418 3,809 2,522 510 37,597
AB Wetaskiwin Con Con 32,528 77.14% 28,892 68.51% 52.94% 32,528 2,362 3,636 3,395 249 42,170
AB Wild Rose Con Con 36,869 72.92% 30,479 60.28% 56.18% 36,869 2,890 4,169 6,390 246 50,564
AB Yellowhead Con Con 26,863 71.85% 22,276 59.58% 49.97% 26,863 1,489 4,587 3,437 1,014 37,390
BC Abbotsford Con Con 30,853 63.32% 22,920 47.04% 59.50% 30,853 7,933 6,444 3,141 358 48,729
BC British Columbia Southern Interior NDP NDP 22,693 47.51% 5,571 11.66% 63.89% 17,122 3,292 22,693 4,573 80 47,760
BC Burnaby—Douglas NDP NDP 17,937 37.94% 798 1.69% 57.70% 17,139 9,177 17,937 2,822 203 47,278
BC Burnaby—New Westminster NDP NDP 20,145 46.50% 6,995 16.15% 54.35% 13,150 6,681 20,145 3,067 282 43,325
BC Cariboo—Prince George Con Con 22,637 55.39% 12,056 29.50% 54.32% 22,637 4,309 10,581 2,614 729 40,870
BC Chilliwack—Fraser Canyon Con Con 29,198 62.32% 20,407 43.56% 57.52% 29,198 3,990 8,791 4,107 766 46,852
BC Delta—Richmond East Con Con 26,252 55.75% 15,881 33.73% 60.06% 26,252 10,371 6,803 3,663 47,089
BC Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca[a 3] Lib Lib 20,042 34.18% 68 0.12% 64.57% 19,974 20,042 13,322 4,854 309 130 58,631
BC Fleetwood—Port Kells Con Con 21,389 44.70% 8,887 18.57% 55.57% 21,389 12,502 10,916 3,045 47,852
BC Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo Con Con 25,209 46.16% 5,608 10.27% 62.02% 25,209 5,375 19,601 4,430 54,615
BC Kelowna—Lake Country Con Con 31,907 55.94% 23,283 40.82% 58.76% 31,907 8,469 8,624 7,821 218 57,039
BC Kootenay—Columbia Con Con 23,402 59.59% 14,510 36.95% 59.76% 23,402 3,044 8,892 3,933 39,271
BC Langley Con Con 32,594 61.46% 23,696 44.68% 61.94% 32,594 5,888 8,898 5,059 594 53,033
BC Nanaimo—Alberni Con Con 28,930 46.68% 9,250 14.93% 64.77% 28,930 5,578 19,680 7,457 331 61,976
BC Nanaimo—Cowichan NDP NDP 27,454 45.17% 4,610 7.58% 63.45% 22,844 4,483 27,454 5,816 182 60,779
BC New Westminster—Coquitlam NDP NDP 20,787 41.83% 1,488 2.99% 61.74% 19,299 5,615 20,787 3,574 417 49,692
BC Newton—North Delta Lib Lib 16,481 36.42% 2,493 5.51% 62.07% 13,988 16,481 11,824 2,533 305 121 45,252
BC North Vancouver Lib Con 24,371 42.26% 2,820 4.89% 66.45% 24,371 21,551 5,417 6,168 166 57,673
BC Okanagan—Coquihalla Con Con 28,765 58.13% 20,529 41.48% 59.63% 28,765 5,883 8,236 6,603 49,487
BC Okanagan—Shuswap Con Con 28,002 51.72% 17,338 32.02% 60.71% 28,002 5,414 10,664 9,368 416 278 54,142
BC Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge—Mission Con Con 26,512 51.81% 9,618 18.80% 60.24% 26,512 3,394 16,894 3,833 238 300 51,171
BC Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam Con Con 25,535 54.61% 15,117 32.33% 58.83% 25,535 6,918 10,418 3,568 321 46,760
BC Prince George—Peace River Con Con 22,325 63.59% 16,155 46.02% 48.89% 22,325 2,954 6,170 3,656 35,105
BC Richmond Lib Con 21,359 49.81% 8,138 18.98% 51.99% 21,359 13,221 5,059 2,753 486 42,878
BC Saanich—Gulf Islands Con Con 27,991 43.42% 2,625 4.07% 70.40% 27,991 25,366 3,667 6,742 694 64,460
BC Skeena—Bulkley Valley NDP NDP 17,219 49.84% 4,658 13.48% 56.51% 12,561 1,916 17,219 1,613 1,237 34,546
BC South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale Con Con 31,216 56.65% 19,701 35.75% 65.08% 31,216 11,515 7,146 4,951 273 55,101
BC Surrey North NDP Con 13,714 39.37% 1,106 3.18% 51.56% 13,714 5,227 12,608 1,925 271 1,088 34,833
BC Vancouver Centre Lib Lib 19,506 34.51% 5,318 9.41% 59.37% 14,188 19,506 12,047 10,354 434 56,529
BC Vancouver East NDP NDP 22,506 54.40% 15,379 37.18% 53.51% 6,432 7,127 22,506 4,708 596 41,369
BC Vancouver Island North NDP Con 25,963 45.78% 2,497 4.40% 64.58% 25,963 2,380 23,466 4,544 362 56,715
BC Vancouver Kingsway Lib NDP 15,933 35.18% 2,769 6.11% 56.45% 12,419 13,164 15,933 3,031 749 45,296
BC Vancouver Quadra Lib Lib 25,393 45.59% 4,832 8.68% 63.37% 20,561 25,393 4,493 4,916 333 55,696
BC Vancouver South Lib Lib 16,110 38.49% 20 0.05% 52.42% 16,090 16,110[a 4] 7,376 2,065 211 41,852
BC Victoria NDP NDP 26,443 44.61% 10,106 17.05% 67.48% 16,337 10,006 26,443 6,252 237 59,275
BC West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country Lib Con 26,949 44.57% 10,880 17.99% 63.36% 26,949 16,069 8,728 8,723 60,469
MB Brandon—Souris Con Con 19,558 57.06% 13,503 39.40% 55.96% 19,558 2,836 6,055 5,410 416 34,275
MB Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia Con Con 21,588 53.83% 13,074 32.60% 63.36% 21,588 8,514 7,190 2,632 180 40,104
MB Churchill Lib NDP 8,734 47.46% 3,445 18.72% 40.15% 3,773 5,289 8,734 606 18,402
MB Dauphin—Swan River—Marquette Con Con 18,132 61.36% 13,218 44.73% 54.71% 18,132 4,128 4,914 1,923 452 29,549
MB Elmwood—Transcona NDP NDP 14,355 45.77% 1,579 5.03% 54.04% 12,776 2,079 14,355 1,839 312 31,361
MB Kildonan—St. Paul Con Con 19,751 53.40% 7,658 20.71% 58.48% 19,751 3,009 12,093 1,685 214 233 36,985
MB Portage—Lisgar Con Con 22,036 68.27% 17,662 54.71% 53.77% 22,036 4,374 2,353 2,606 911 32,280
MB Provencher Con Con 23,303 64.66% 18,356 50.93% 58.01% 23,303 4,531 4,947 2,089 1,170 36,040
MB Saint Boniface Lib Con 19,440 46.32% 4,712 11.23% 64.32% 19,440 14,728 5,502 2,104 195 41,969
MB Selkirk—Interlake Con Con 23,302 60.63% 13,796 35.90% 57.68% 23,302 3,203 9,506 2,126 295 38,432
MB Winnipeg Centre NDP NDP 12,285 48.92% 6,848 27.27% 43.25% 5,437 3,922 12,285 2,777 361 331 25,113
MB Winnipeg North NDP NDP 14,097 62.61% 9,064 40.26% 42.85% 5,033 2,075 14,097 1,070 241 22,516
MB Winnipeg South Con Con 19,954 48.84% 5,733 14.03% 65.63% 19,954 14,221[a 5] 4,673 1,839 173 40,860
MB Winnipeg South Centre Lib Lib 16,438 42.27% 2,335 6.00% 65.68% 14,103 16,438 5,490 2,860 38,891
NB Acadie—Bathurst NDP NDP 25,849 57.53% 15,999 35.61% 68.32% 8,331 9,850 25,849 904 44,934
NB Beauséjour Lib Lib 20,059 46.76% 7,553 17.61% 69.25% 12,506 20,059 7,242 3,087 42,894
NB Fredericton Lib Con 17,962 42.53% 4,643 10.99% 62.13% 17,962 13,319 6,490 4,293 168 42,232
NB Fundy Royal Con Con 17,211 51.63% 9,304 27.91% 61.09% 17,211 5,773 7,907 2,443 33,334
NB Madawaska—Restigouche Lib Lib 16,266 47.40% 4,864 14.17% 66.77% 11,402 16,266 5,361 1,287 34,316
NB Miramichi Lib Con 12,058 42.08% 1,468 5.12% 65.78% 12,058 10,590 4,904 1,105 28,657
NB Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe Lib Lib 17,797 39.13% 1,500 3.30% 61.31% 16,297 17,797 7,394 3,998 45,486
NB New Brunswick Southwest Con Con 17,474 58.32% 11,611 38.75% 61.17% 17,474 5,863 4,958 1,667 29,962
NB Saint John Lib Con 13,782 39.55% 497 1.43% 54.01% 13,782[a 6] 13,285 5,560 1,888 330 34,845
NB Tobique—Mactaquac Con Con 18,071 57.40% 11,298 35.88% 59.73% 18,071 6,773 4,830 1,810 31,484
NL Avalon Con Lib 14,866 45.28% 3,324 10.13% 51.80% 11,542 14,866 5,707 714 32,829
NL Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor Lib Lib 20,089 70.27% 15,735 55.04% 41.15% 4,354 20,089 3,577 568 28,588
NL Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte Lib Lib 17,956 68.22% 13,353 50.73% 44.25% 2,799 17,956 4,603 964 26,322
NL Labrador Lib Lib 5,426 70.28% 4,048 52.43% 38.60% 615 5,426 1,378 302 7,721
NL Random—Burin—St. George's Lib Lib 12,557 53.72% 6,994 29.92% 41.07% 4,791 12,557 5,563 462 23,373
NL St. John's East Con NDP 30,881 74.55% 25,670 61.97% 56.89% 3,836 5,211 30,881 570 925 41,423
NL St. John's South—Mount Pearl Con Lib 14,920 43.32% 949 2.76% 51.95% 4,324 14,920 13,971 643 179 402 34,439
NS Cape Breton—Canso Lib Lib 17,447 48.10% 8,923 24.60% 63.31% 8,524 17,447 7,660 2,641 36,272
NS Central Nova Con Con 18,240 46.60% 5,620 14.36% 67.01% 18,240 7,659 12,620 623 39,142
NS Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley Con Ind 27,303 69.01% 22,429 56.69% 57.77% 3,493 3,344 4,874 27,853[a 7] 39,564
NS Dartmouth—Cole Harbour Lib Lib 16,016 39.49% 3,223 7.95% 58.73% 9,109 16,016 12,793 2,417 219 40,554
NS Halifax NDP NDP 19,252 42.69% 6,794 15.06% 60.67% 9,295 12,458 19,252 3,931 162 45,098
NS Halifax West Lib Lib 17,129 41.56% 4,928 11.96% 59.13% 8,708 17,129 12,201 2,920 257 41,215
NS Kings—Hants Lib Lib 16,641 44.19% 6,795 18.04% 58.59% 9,846 16,641 8,291 2,353 528 37,659
NS Sackville—Eastern Shore NDP NDP 24,279 61.42% 16,081 40.68% 58.52% 8,198 5,018 24,279 2,034 39,529
NS South Shore—St. Margaret's Con Con 14,388 35.99% 932 2.33% 60.20% 14,388 9,536 13,456 2,090 513 39,983
NS Sydney—Victoria Lib Lib 17,303 49.40% 8,744 24.96% 57.41% 7,223 17,303 8,559 1,941 35,026
NS West Nova Lib Con 16,779 39.94% 1,594 3.79% 62.48% 16,779[a 8] 15,185 7,097 2,106 844 42,011
ON Ajax—Pickering Lib Lib 21,675 44.53% 3,204 6.58% 56.71% 18,471 21,675 4,422 3,543 565 48,676
ON Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing Lib NDP 15,249 45.50% 4,347 12.97% 56.53% 5,914 10,902 15,249 1,451 33,516
ON Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale Con Con 26,297 46.50% 10,975 19.41% 66.70% 26,297 15,322 9,632 5,149 148 56,548
ON Barrie Con Con 27,927 52.37% 15,195 28.49% 58.50% 27,927 12,732 6,403 5,921 344 53,327
ON Beaches—East York Lib Lib 18,967 40.97% 4,092 8.84% 62.93% 7,907 18,967 14,875 4,389 155 46,293
ON Bramalea—Gore—Malton Lib Lib 22,272 45.06% 3,919 7.93% 49.74% 18,353 22,272 5,945 2,551 309 49,430
ON Brampton—Springdale Lib Lib 18,577 41.04% 773 1.71% 54.24% 17,804 18,577 5,238 3,516 135 45,270
ON Brampton West[a 9] Lib Lib 21,746 40.33% 231 0.43% 49.72% 21,515 21,746 7,334 3,329 53,924
ON Brant Lib Con 22,736 41.95% 4,793 8.84% 58.38% 22,736 17,943 9,331 3,814 371 54,195
ON Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound Con Con 22,975 47.66% 9,880 20.50% 61.36% 22,975 6,892 4,640 13,095 599 48,201
ON Burlington Con Con 28,614 48.60% 9,037 15.35% 64.99% 28,614 19,577 6,597 4,083 58,871
ON Cambridge Con Con 24,895 48.63% 12,918 25.23% 55.92% 24,895 11,977 10,044 4,279 51,195
ON Carleton—Mississippi Mills Con Con 39,433 57.77% 24,179 35.43% 69.16% 39,433 15,254 6,583 6,983 68,253
ON Chatham-Kent—Essex Con Con 19,960 47.92% 7,833 18.81% 55.86% 19,960 12,127 6,850 2,712 41,649
ON Davenport Lib Lib 15,953 45.77% 5,057 14.51% 53.03% 3,838 15,953 10,896 3,655 172 339 34,853
ON Don Valley East Lib Lib 18,264 48.08% 6,487 17.08% 53.48% 11,777 18,264 5,062 2,618 266 37,987
ON Don Valley West Lib Lib 22,212 44.36% 2,771 5.53% 62.12% 19,441 22,212 5,102 3,155 162 50,072
ON Dufferin—Caledon Con Con 23,363 53.21% 14,868 33.86% 56.79% 23,363 8,495 4,385 7,377 284 43,904
ON Durham Con Con 28,551 54.05% 16,384 31.02% 60.48% 28,551 12,167 5,485 6,041 577 52,821
ON Eglinton—Lawrence Lib Lib 19,133 43.99% 2,060 4.74% 59.75% 17,073 19,133 3,663 3,629 43,498
ON Elgin—Middlesex—London Con Con 22,970 48.39% 11,801 24.86% 59.66% 22,970 11,169 9,135 3,241 243 715 47,473
ON Essex Con Con 20,608 40.00% 5,635 10.94% 58.22% 20,608 14,973 13,703 2,234 51,518
ON Etobicoke Centre Lib Lib 24,537 48.85% 5,698 11.34% 62.48% 18,839 24,537 4,164 2,688 50,228
ON Etobicoke—Lakeshore Lib Lib 23,536 46.13% 5,743 11.26% 59.31% 17,793 23,536 5,950 3,562 181 51,022
ON Etobicoke North Lib Lib 15,244 48.58% 5,808 18.51% 49.60% 9,436 15,244 4,940 1,460 300 31,380
ON Glengarry—Prescott—Russell Con Con 25,659 47.30% 5,662 10.44% 67.29% 25,659 19,997 5,678 2,908 54,242
ON Guelph Lib Lib 18,974 32.22% 1,788 3.04% 64.59% 17,186 18,974 9,713 12,454 58 504 58,889
ON Haldimand—Norfolk Con Con 19,657 40.83% 4,080 8.47% 60.98% 19,657 15,577 5,549 2,041 4,821 501 48,146
ON Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock Con Con 30,391 55.95% 19,298 35.53% 60.10% 30,391 11,093 7,952 4,505 374 54,315
ON Halton Con Con 32,986 47.50% 7,850 11.30% 60.45% 32,986 25,136 6,118 4,872 337 69,449
ON Hamilton Centre NDP NDP 20,010 49.25% 10,959 26.97% 50.36% 9,051 7,164 20,010 3,625 779 40,629
ON Hamilton East—Stoney Creek NDP NDP 19,919 41.28% 6,464 13.40% 56.59% 11,556 13,455 19,919 2,142 323 853 48,248
ON Hamilton Mountain NDP NDP 22,796 43.65% 6,786 12.99% 59.26% 16,010 10,531 22,796 2,884 52,221
ON Huron—Bruce Lib Con 22,182 44.77% 5,846 11.80% 64.59% 22,182 16,336 7,426 2,617 242 747 49,550
ON Kenora Lib Con 9,395 40.46% 2,051 8.83% 54.48% 9,395 7,344 5,394 1,087 23,220
ON Kingston and the Islands Lib Lib 22,734 39.15% 3,839 6.61% 60.10% 18,895 22,734 10,158 6,282 58,069
ON Kitchener Centre Lib Con 16,480 36.70% 339 0.75% 57.03% 16,480 16,141 8,122 3,823 215 127 44,908
ON Kitchener—Conestoga Con Con 23,525 49.32% 11,649 24.42% 56.52% 23,525 11,876 7,173 5,124 47,698
ON Kitchener—Waterloo Lib Con 21,830 36.06% 17 0.03% 62.31% 21,830 21,813 8,915 7,326 107 543 60,534
ON Lambton—Kent—Middlesex Con Con 24,516 51.28% 12,704 26.58% 61.10% 24,516 11,812 7,427 3,386 663 47,804
ON Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington Con Con 30,272 55.88% 18,463 34.08% 61.04% 30,272 11,809 7,112 4,629 347 54,169
ON Leeds—Grenville Con Con 27,473 58.44% 19,398 41.27% 62.86% 27,473 8,075 6,511 4,522 426 47,007
ON London—Fanshawe NDP NDP 17,672 43.06% 5,013 12.22% 55.11% 12,659 7,774 17,672 2,656 276 41,037
ON London North Centre Lib Lib 21,018 39.13% 3,306 6.15% 56.97% 17,712 21,018 9,387 5,603 53,720
ON London West Lib Con 22,556 39.09% 2,121 3.68% 63.14% 22,556 20,435 8,409 5,630 667 57,697
ON Markham—Unionville Lib Lib 25,296 55.02% 11,441 24.88% 52.01% 13,855 25,296 4,682 1,921 225 45,979
ON Mississauga—Brampton South Lib Lib 21,220 47.69% 6,556 14.73% 49.39% 14,664 21,220 5,268 2,947 395 44,494
ON Mississauga East—Cooksville Lib Lib 20,457 50.16% 7,180 17.61% 49.13% 13,277 20,457 4,632 2,138 277 40,781
ON Mississauga—Erindale Lib Con 23,863 42.71% 397 0.71% 56.20% 23,863 23,466 4,774 3,636 129 55,868
ON Mississauga South Lib Lib 20,518 44.22% 2,152 4.64% 60.08% 18,366 20,518 4,104 3,407 46,395
ON Mississauga—Streetsville Lib Lib 21,710 45.76% 4,725 9.96% 56.13% 16,985 21,710 4,710 3,179 857 47,441
ON Nepean—Carleton Con Con 39,921 55.84% 23,178 32.42% 69.39% 39,921 16,743 6,946 7,880 71,490
ON Newmarket—Aurora Lib Con 24,873 46.70% 6,623 12.43% 62.07% 24,873 18,250 4,548 4,381 1,209 53,261
ON Niagara Falls Con Con 24,016 46.70% 10,149 19.74% 54.60% 24,016 13,867 9,186 4,356 51,425
ON Niagara West—Glanbrook Con Con 28,089 51.98% 15,134 28.01% 63.69% 28,089 12,955 7,980 3,897 1,118 54,039
ON Nickel Belt Lib NDP 19,021 46.54% 8,273 20.24% 57.75% 8,869 10,748 19,021 2,056 112 66 40,872
ON Nipissing—Timiskaming Lib Lib 18,510 44.56% 5,078 12.23% 59.42% 13,432 18,510 6,582 2,808 204 41,536
ON Northumberland—Quinte West Con Con 27,615 48.71% 11,406 20.12% 60.75% 27,615 16,209 8,230 4,633 56,687
ON Oak Ridges—Markham Lib Con 32,028 42.24% 545 0.72% 55.66% 32,028 31,483 7,126 5,184 75,821
ON Oakville Lib Con 26,011 46.98% 5,483 9.90% 66.34% 26,011 20,528 4,143 4,681 55,363
ON Oshawa Con Con 19,951 41.37% 3,201 6.64% 55.25% 19,951 7,741 16,750 3,374 415 48,231
ON Ottawa Centre NDP NDP 25,399 39.74% 8,766 13.71% 69.11% 15,065 16,633 25,399 6,348 473 63,918
ON Ottawa—Orléans Con Con 27,244 44.91% 3,695 6.09% 71.34% 27,244 23,549 6,025 3,845 60,663
ON Ottawa South Lib Lib 29,035 49.91% 9,618 16.53% 66.82% 19,417 29,035 4,920 3,939 864 58,175
ON Ottawa—Vanier Lib Lib 23,948 46.20% 9,810 18.93% 64.04% 14,138 23,948 8,845 4,447 227 230 51,835
ON Ottawa West—Nepean Con Con 25,109 44.98% 4,948 8.86% 66.44% 25,109 20,161 6,432 3,558 414 150 55,824
ON Oxford Con Con 23,330 52.68% 14,744 33.29% 59.02% 23,330 8,586 7,982 3,355 1,036 44,289
ON Parkdale—High Park NDP Lib 20,705 42.98% 3,373 7.00% 64.60% 5,992 20,705 17,332 3,601 549 48,179
ON Parry Sound-Muskoka Con Con 21,831 50.19% 10,960 25.19% 62.71% 21,831 10,871 5,355 5,119 325 43,501
ON Perth Wellington Con Con 20,765 48.09% 10,540 24.41% 59.39% 20,765 10,225 7,334 3,874 982 43,180
ON Peterborough Con Con 27,630 47.40% 9,213 15.81% 63.32% 27,630 18,417 8,115 4,029 98 58,289
ON Pickering—Scarborough East Lib Lib 22,874 49.69% 7,934 17.24% 60.22% 14,940 22,874 4,875 3,023 321 46,033
ON Prince Edward—Hastings Con Con 26,061 50.19% 12,013 23.14% 59.06% 26,061 14,048 7,156 4,379 276 51,920
ON Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke Con Con 28,908 61.10% 19,171 40.52% 63.15% 28,908 9,737 5,175 3,201 293 47,314
ON Richmond Hill Lib Lib 21,488 47.00% 5,170 11.31% 52.05% 16,318 21,488 4,526 3,388 45,720
ON St. Catharines Con Con 23,474 45.90% 8,822 17.25% 61.20% 23,474 14,652 9,428 3,477 113 51,144
ON St. Paul's Lib Lib 26,286 50.61% 12,338 23.76% 63.98% 13,948 26,286 6,666 4,726 312 51,938
ON Sarnia—Lambton Con Con 23,195 50.01% 13,158 28.37% 58.66% 23,195 9,404 10,037 3,201 545 46,382
ON Sault Ste. Marie NDP NDP 16,572 40.43% 1,111 2.71% 59.42% 15,461 6,870 16,572 1,774 316 40,993
ON Scarborough—Agincourt Lib Lib 22,795 56.63% 10,959 27.23% 54.16% 11,836 22,795 3,748 1,870 40,249
ON Scarborough Centre Lib Lib 17,927 48.68% 6,839 18.57% 52.13% 11,088 17,927 5,801 2,011 36,827
ON Scarborough-Guildwood Lib Lib 18,098 50.17% 7,217 20.01% 54.02% 10,881 18,098 5,183 1,913 36,075
ON Scarborough—Rouge River Lib Lib 23,718 58.78% 14,558 36.08% 47.50% 9,160 23,718 5,936 1,207 331 40,352
ON Scarborough Southwest Lib Lib 15,486 41.83% 4,558 12.31% 54.74% 10,928 15,486 6,943 3,514 151 37,022
ON Simcoe—Grey Con Con 30,897 55.05% 18,798 33.49% 60.10% 30,897 12,099 6,288 5,685 1,161 56,130
ON Simcoe North Con Con 26,328 49.66% 11,658 21.99% 60.10% 26,328 14,670 6,202 5,821 53,021
ON Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry Con Con 25,846 57.34% 17,292 38.36% 60.15% 25,846 8,554 6,107 1,880 2,581 105 45,073
ON Sudbury Lib NDP 15,094 35.15% 2,125 4.95% 58.11% 11,073 12,969 15,094 3,330 80 397 42,943
ON Thornhill Lib Con 26,660 49.01% 5,212 9.58% 56.80% 26,660 21,448 3,601 2,686 54,395
ON Thunder Bay—Rainy River Lib NDP 14,478 40.32% 2,889 8.05% 57.05% 8,466 11,589 14,478 1,377 35,910
ON Thunder Bay—Superior North Lib NDP 13,187 37.03% 3,104 8.72% 57.37% 9,556 10,083 13,187 2,463 327 35,616
ON Timmins-James Bay NDP NDP 17,188 56.54% 10,448 34.37% 51.00% 5,536 6,740 17,188 938 30,402
ON Toronto Centre Lib Lib 27,462 53.53% 18,060 35.20% 57.39% 9,402 27,462 7,743 6,081 146 472 51,306
ON Toronto—Danforth NDP NDP 20,323 44.78% 6,987 15.39% 60.91% 5,287 13,336 20,323 5,995 130 316 45,387
ON Trinity—Spadina NDP NDP 24,454 40.84% 3,484 5.82% 62.21% 8,249 20,970 24,454 5,418 296 491 59,878
ON Vaughan Lib Lib 27,773 49.18% 8,383 14.84% 51.92% 19,390 27,773 5,442 3,870 56,475
ON Welland Lib NDP 16,842 32.91% 300 0.59% 59.67% 16,542 14,295 16,842 2,816 569 114 51,178
ON Wellington—Halton Hills Con Con 29,191 57.63% 17,879 35.30% 63.21% 29,191 11,312 4,747 4,987 414 50,651
ON Whitby—Oshawa Con Con 30,704 50.99% 15,244 25.32% 60.91% 30,704 15,460 8,584 5,067 395 60,210
ON Willowdale Lib Lib 23,889 48.67% 7,958 16.21% 51.92% 15,931 23,889 5,011 3,130 260 864 49,085
ON Windsor—Tecumseh NDP NDP 20,914 48.70% 10,638 24.77% 50.65% 10,276 9,005 20,914 2,749 42,944
ON Windsor West NDP NDP 20,791 52.51% 11,837 29.89% 47.33% 8,954 7,357 20,791 2,253 241 39,596
ON York Centre Lib Lib 16,164 43.46% 2,032 5.46% 52.31% 14,132 16,164 4,503 2,390 37,189
ON York—Simcoe Con Con 27,412 56.70% 18,368 37.99% 56.17% 27,412 9,044 5,882 4,887 1,120 48,345
ON York South—Weston Lib Lib 16,071 46.60% 6,430 18.64% 50.35% 7,021 16,071 9,641 1,757 34,490
ON York West Lib Lib 16,997 59.39% 11,634 40.65% 48.33% 4,773 16,997 5,363 1,488 28,621
PE Cardigan Lib Lib 10,105 52.81% 4,444 23.23% 70.26% 5,661 10,105 1,556 710 1,101 19,133
PE Charlottetown Lib Lib 8,893 50.06% 3,189 17.95% 66.10% 5,704 8,893 2,187 858 124 17,766
PE Egmont[a 10] Lib Con 8,110 43.93% 55 0.30% 68.15% 8,110[a 11] 8,055[a 12] 1,670 626 18,461
PE Malpeque Lib Lib 8,312 44.19% 924 4.91% 71.41% 7,388 8,312 1,819 1,291 18,810
QC Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou BQ BQ 10,995 39.65% 2,573 9.28% 49.06% 8,422 5,108 2,276 10,995 928 27,729
QC Abitibi—Témiscamingue BQ BQ 20,929 47.91% 11,874 27.18% 55.01% 8,267 9,055 4,151 20,929 976 302 43,680
QC Ahuntsic BQ BQ 18,815 39.49% 423 0.89% 65.64% 4,937 18,392 4,276 18,815 1,228 47,648
QC Alfred-Pellan BQ BQ 20,686 38.83% 5,092 9.56% 66.05% 8,662 15,594 6,406 20,686 1,665 259 53,272
QC Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel BQ BQ 26,455 48.10% 16,471 29.95% 60.86% 9,584 9,984 6,819 26,455 2,055 98 54,995
QC Bas-Richelieu—Nicolet—Bécancour BQ BQ 26,821 54.67% 17,917 36.52% 65.45% 8,904 7,987 4,010 26,821 1,334 49,056
QC Beauce Con Con 31,883 62.41% 24,740 48.43% 62.38% 31,883 5,270 4,352 7,143 2,436 51,084
QC Beauharnois—Salaberry BQ BQ 26,904 50.07% 16,046 29.86% 63.22% 10,858 7,995 6,214 26,904 1,764 53,735
QC Beauport—Limoilou Con Con 17,994 36.76% 2,032 4.15% 59.40% 17,994 7,030 5,986 15,962 1,363 610 48,945
QC Berthier—Maskinongé BQ BQ 24,945 45.83% 12,867 23.64% 62.75% 12,078 10,035 5,684 24,945 1,691 54,433
QC Bourassa Lib Lib 19,869 49.79% 9,724 24.37% 58.32% 5,405 19,869 3,188 10,145 1,166 130 39,903
QC Brome—Missisquoi BQ BQ 17,561 35.21% 1,204 2.41% 65.78% 9,309 16,357 4,514 17,561 1,784 354 49,879
QC Brossard—La Prairie BQ Lib 19,103 32.59% 69 0.12% 64.57% 11,062 19,103 7,452 19,034 1,816 157 58,624
QC Chambly—Borduas BQ BQ 31,773 50.08% 21,124 33.30% 68.41% 9,564 10,649 8,998 31,773 2,460 63,444
QC Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles Con Con 20,566 41.15% 5,964 11.93% 63.66% 20,566 7,039 6,542 14,602 1,231 49,980
QC Châteauguay—Saint-Constant BQ BQ 25,086 45.58% 14,982 27.22% 66.36% 9,827 10,104 8,261 25,086 1,755 55,033
QC Chicoutimi—Le Fjord BQ BQ 19,737 41.31% 3,057 6.40% 62.25% 16,680 6,425 3,742 19,737 1,193 47,777
QC Compton—Stanstead BQ BQ 20,332 41.86% 9,386 19.32% 62.97% 9,445 10,946 5,483 20,332 2,368 48,574
QC Drummond BQ BQ 17,613 38.79% 6,123 13.49% 62.21% 11,490 7,697 7,460 17,613 1,144 45,404
QC Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine BQ BQ 14,636 40.10% 4,796 13.14% 54.11% 8,334 9,840 2,549 14,636 1,136 36,495
QC Gatineau BQ BQ 15,189 29.15% 1,577 3.03% 61.13% 8,762 13,193 13,612 15,189 1,342 52,098
QC Haute-Gaspésie—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia BQ BQ 11,984 37.53% 616 1.93% 54.38% 5,771 11,368[a 13] 1,497 11,984 1,139 175 31,934
QC Hochelaga BQ BQ 22,720 49.73% 13,278 29.07% 58.24% 4,201 9,442 6,600 22,720 1,946 774 45,683
QC Honoré-Mercier Lib Lib 21,544 43.67% 7,673 15.55% 62.16% 7,549 21,544 4,986 13,871 1,380 49,330
QC Hull—Aylmer Lib Lib 19,750 37.45% 8,125 15.41% 61.00% 7,996 19,750 10,454 11,625 2,784 121 52,730
QC Jeanne-Le Ber BQ BQ 17,144 34.91% 1,303 2.65% 57.66% 5,494 15,841 7,708 17,144 2,345 577 49,109
QC Joliette BQ BQ 28,040 52.40% 18,500 34.57% 62.02% 9,540 7,769 5,579 28,040 2,588 53,516
QC Jonquière—Alma Con Con 26,639 52.48% 7,604 14.98% 64.79% 26,639 2,616 2,475 19,035 50,765
QC La Pointe-de-l'Île BQ BQ 25,976 56.09% 18,573 40.10% 59.46% 5,179 7,403 5,975 25,976 1,340 438 46,311
QC Lac-Saint-Louis Lib Lib 23,842 46.39% 11,757 22.87% 64.03% 12,085 23,842 8,105 2,953 4,415 51,400
QC LaSalle—Émard Lib Lib 17,226 40.60% 6,842 16.13% 57.82% 6,802 17,226 5,622 10,384 1,579 674 144 42,431
QC Laurentides—Labelle BQ BQ 24,956 47.08% 10,813 20.40% 60.40% 6,914 14,143 4,896 24,956 2,094 53,003
QC Laurier—Sainte-Marie BQ BQ 24,103 50.24% 15,305 31.90% 61.10% 2,320 8,798 8,209 24,103 3,801 93 651 47,975
QC Laval BQ BQ 19,085 37.80% 4,895 9.69% 62.24% 9,101 14,190 6,289 19,085 1,607 221 50,493
QC Laval—Les Îles Lib Lib 21,603 40.45% 9,027 16.90% 61.69% 11,017 21,603 6,124 12,576 1,752 336 53,408
QC Lévis—Bellechasse Con Con 24,785 45.90% 11,038 20.44% 62.45% 24,785 8,130 5,856 13,747 1,370 113 54,001
QC Longueuil—Pierre-Boucher BQ BQ 23,118 46.12% 12,198 24.34% 65.89% 7,210 10,920 7,021 23,118 1,752 103 50,124
QC Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière Con Con 24,495 47.27% 11,757 22.69% 66.15% 24,495 6,498 6,828 12,738 1,265 51,824
QC Louis-Hébert Con BQ 20,992 36.23% 4,649 8.02% 70.29% 16,343 13,669 5,403 20,992 1,408 119 57,934
QC Louis-Saint-Laurent Con Con 23,683 47.14% 10,353 20.61% 62.88% 23,683 6,712 5,252 13,330 1,260 50,237
QC Manicouagan BQ BQ 15,272 49.29% 6,898 22.26% 49.20% 8,374 4,737 1,491 15,272 1,112 30,986
QC Marc-Aurèle-Fortin BQ BQ 25,552 45.53% 11,824 21.07% 67.41% 7,759 13,728 6,907 25,552 2,178 56,124
QC Mégantic—L'Érable Con Con 20,697 46.70% 8,414 18.99% 64.42% 20,697 6,185 4,191 12,283 959 44,315
QC Montcalm BQ BQ 33,519 55.69% 25,132 41.75% 61.73% 8,096 8,387 8,337 33,519 1,854 60,193
QC Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup BQ BQ 20,494 46.03% 6,854 15.39% 57.49% 13,640 6,835 2,428 20,494 978 147 44,522
QC Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord BQ BQ 21,068 48.88% 9,279 21.53% 58.35% 11,789 5,769 3,332 21,068 1,147 43,105
QC Mount Royal Lib Lib 19,702 55.65% 10,026 28.32% 52.30% 9,676 19,702 2,733 1,543 1,565 186 35,405
QC Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine Lib Lib 19,554 44.62% 12,446 28.40% 58.09% 7,108 19,554 6,641 6,962 3,378 177 43,820
QC Outremont Lib NDP 14,348 39.53% 2,343 6.46% 56.61% 3,820 12,005 14,348 4,554 1,566 36,293
QC Papineau BQ Lib 17,724 41.47% 1,189 2.78% 61.77% 3,262 17,724 3,734 16,535 1,213 267 42,735
QC Pierrefonds—Dollard Lib Lib 21,468 46.94% 9,653 21.11% 57.81% 11,815 21,468 4,823 4,357 3,161 111 45,735
QC Pontiac Con Con 14,023 32.71% 3,627 8.46% 54.55% 14,023 10,396 6,616 9,576 2,148 112 42,871
QC Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier Ind Ind 15,063 33.49% 662 1.47% 60.83% 7,320 5,707 14,401 1,452 16,102[a 14] 44,982
QC Québec BQ BQ 21,064 41.76% 8,121 16.10% 62.68% 12,943 8,845 5,933 21,064 1,650 50,435
QC Repentigny BQ BQ 31,007 53.05% 22,154 37.91% 65.90% 8,168 8,751 8,853 31,007 1,666 58,445
QC Richmond—Arthabaska BQ BQ 23,913 46.02% 8,833 17.00% 65.57% 15,080 6,599 4,509 23,913 1,337 526 51,964
QC Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques BQ BQ 17,652 44.69% 9,715 24.59% 58.73% 7,216 7,937 4,084 17,652 645 1,966 39,500
QC Rivière-des-Mille-Îles BQ BQ 23,216 45.68% 13,305 26.18% 67.18% 9,911 8,823 6,741 23,216 2,134 50,825
QC Rivière-du-Nord BQ BQ 26,588 53.57% 19,401 39.09% 59.26% 7,170 6,755 7,187 26,588 1,656 273 49,629
QC Roberval—Lac-Saint-Jean BQ Con 16,055 43.54% 1,436 3.89% 58.99% 16,055 3,721 1,738 14,619 737 36,870
QC Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie BQ BQ 27,260 52.00% 17,475 33.34% 64.65% 3,876 9,785 8,522 27,260 2,406 83 489 52,421
QC Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert BQ BQ 23,767 44.99% 12,012 22.74% 67.70% 8,125 11,755 7,154 23,767 2,031 52,832
QC Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot BQ BQ 22,719 47.36% 12,524 26.11% 63.12% 10,195 6,649 6,721 22,719 1,682 47,966
QC Saint-Jean BQ BQ 26,506 49.61% 17,076 31.96% 65.47% 9,281 9,430 5,529 26,506 2,160 520 53,426
QC Saint-Lambert BQ BQ 16,346 37.63% 3,963 9.12% 59.45% 6,867 12,383 6,280 16,346 1,566 43,442
QC Saint-Laurent—Cartierville Lib Lib 25,095 61.72% 18,096 44.51% 53.55% 6,999 25,095 3,654 4,611 299 40,658
QC Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel Lib Lib 21,652 57.26% 16,025 42.38% 53.59% 5,627 21,652 4,039 5,146 1,063 122 165 37,814
QC Saint-Maurice—Champlain BQ BQ 20,397 43.96% 9,314 20.07% 59.25% 11,083 9,755 3,601 20,397 1,562 46,398
QC Shefford BQ BQ 21,650 42.82% 10,840 21.44% 63.14% 9,927 10,810 6,323 21,650 1,848 50,558
QC Sherbrooke BQ BQ 25,502 50.08% 15,555 30.55% 62.85% 8,331 9,947 6,676 25,502 467 50,923
QC Terrebonne—Blainville BQ BQ 28,303 52.35% 19,366 35.82% 66.00% 7,551 8,937 7,278 28,303 1,714 283 54,066
QC Trois-Rivières BQ BQ 22,405 45.27% 10,407 21.03% 64.58% 11,998 9,008 4,544 22,405 1,540 49,495
QC Vaudreuil-Soulanges BQ BQ 27,044 41.34% 11,548 17.65% 67.76% 15,496 13,954 6,298 27,044 2,625 65,417
QC Verchères—Les Patriotes BQ BQ 27,602 50.85% 18,731 34.51% 71.87% 7,742 8,871 8,388 27,602 1,679 54,282
QC Westmount—Ville-Marie Lib Lib 18,041 46.47% 9,137 23.53% 50.65% 6,139 18,041 8,904 2,818 2,733 47 145 38,827
SK Battlefords—Lloydminster Con Con 15,621 60.11% 9,049 34.82% 51.11% 15,621 2,140 6,572 1,287 368 25,988
SK Blackstrap Con Con 20,747 53.95% 10,871 28.27% 64.57% 20,747 5,509 9,876 2,325 38,457
SK Cypress Hills—Grasslands Con Con 17,922 64.36% 13,528 48.58% 62.79% 17,922 3,691 4,394 1,840 27,847
SK Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River Lib Con 8,964 46.67% 3,148 16.39% 44.75% 8,964 5,816 3,414 733 282 19,209
SK Palliser Con Con 14,159 44.12% 3,294 10.26% 64.35% 14,159 5,489 10,865 1,580 32,093
SK Prince Albert Con Con 16,542 57.73% 8,299 28.96% 55.52% 16,542 2,289 8,243 1,413 167 28,654
SK Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre Con Con 16,053 51.09% 7,090 22.56% 63.09% 16,053 4,668 8,963 1,737 31,421
SK Regina—Qu'Appelle Con Con 14,068 51.85% 5,369 19.79% 56.61% 14,068 2,809 8,699 1,556 27,132
SK Saskatoon—Humboldt Con Con 18,610 53.80% 8,978 25.96% 61.50% 18,610 4,135 9,632 2,211 34,588
SK Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar Con Con 12,231 45.39% 262 0.97% 54.82% 12,231 1,188 11,969 1,232 138 188 26,946
SK Saskatoon—Wanuskewin Con Con 18,320 56.51% 10,422 32.15% 58.78% 18,320 4,020 7,898 2,182 32,420
SK Souris—Moose Mountain Con Con 19,293 70.49% 14,694 53.69% 58.68% 19,293 1,834 4,599 1,643 27,369
SK Wascana Lib Lib 17,028 46.08% 4,230 11.45% 64.20% 12,798 17,028 5,418 1,706 36,950
SK Yorkton—Melville Con Con 19,824 68.03% 13,748 47.18% 56.86% 19,824 1,578 6,076 1,664 29,142
Terr Nunavut Lib Con 2,815 34.92% 466 5.78% 47.35% 2,815 2,349 2,228 669 8,061
Terr Western Arctic NDP NDP 5,669 41.45% 523 3.82% 47.71% 5,146[a 15] 1,858 5,669 752 252 13,677
Terr Yukon Lib Lib 6,715 45.80% 1,927 13.14% 63.23% 4,788 6,715 1,276 1,881 14,660
  1. ^ including spoilt ballots
  2. ^ minor political parties receiving less than 1% of the national popular vote are aggregated under "Other"; independent candidates are aggregated separately
  3. ^ recount terminated at request of applicant
  4. ^ Ujjal Dosanjh was previously an NDP member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, and was Premier of British Columbia until 2001.
  5. ^ John Loewen was previously a member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba
  6. ^ Rodney Weston was previously a member of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick
  7. ^ Bill Casey, the winning candidate, was previously the Conservative MP
  8. ^ Greg Kerr was previously a member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly
  9. ^ also an open seat
  10. ^ also an open seat
  11. ^ Gail Shea was previously a member of the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island.
  12. ^ Keith Milligan was previously a member of the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island, as well as Premier of Prince Edward Island for a short time in 1996.
  13. ^ Nancy Charest was previously a member of the National Assembly of Quebec.
  14. ^ André Arthur, the winning candidate, was the incumbent MP
  15. ^ Brendan Bell was previously a member of the Northwest Territories Legislature
  = went to a judicial recount
  = Open seat
  = turnout is above national average
  = Incumbent had switched allegiance
  = Previously incumbent in another riding
  = Not incumbent; was previously elected to the House
  = Incumbency arose from by-election gain
  = other incumbents defeated
  = Multiple candidates

Summary analysis

[edit]
Party candidates in 2nd place[109]
Party in 1st place Party in 2nd place Total
Con Lib NDP BQ Grn Ind
Conservative 78 50 9 5 1 143
Liberal 57 13 7 77
New Democratic 20 17 37
Bloc Québécois 18 28 3 49
Independent 1 1 2
Total 95 123 67 17 5 1 308
Candidates ranked 1st to 5th place, by party[109]
Parties 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th
 Conservative 143 95 56 12 1
 Liberal 77 123 79 28
 Bloc Québécois 49 17 5 2 2
 New Democratic 37 67 129 75
 Independent 2 1 1 3 26
 Green 5 38 185 74
 Christian Heritage 1 47
 Progressive Canadian 1 8
 Newfoundland and Labrador First 1 1
 Libertarian 19
 Marxist–Leninist 16
 Communist 10
 Canadian Action 7
 Marijuana 6
 First Peoples National 4
 Animal Alliance 1
 neorhino.ca 1
 Work Less 1
Resulting composition of the 40th Canadian Parliament
Source Party
Con Lib NDP Bloc Ind Total
Seats retained Incumbents returned 105 66 24 42 1 238
Open seats held 12 7 2 5 26
Ouster of incumbent changing allegiance 1 1 1 3
Seats changing hands Incumbents defeated 17 3 6 1 27
Open seats gained 6 4 10
Byelection gains held 2 1 3
Incumbent changing allegiance 1 1
Total 143 77 37 49 2 308

Significant results among independent and minor party candidates

[edit]

Those candidates not belonging to a major party, receiving more than 1,000 votes in the election, are listed below:[109]

Riding Party Candidates Votes Placed
Calgary Northeast  Independent Rogere Richard 4,836 3rd
Calgary West  Independent Kirk Schmidt 1,790 5th
Cardigan  Independent Larry McGuire 1,101 4th
Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley  Independent Bill Casey 27,303 1st
Edmonton—Sherwood Park  Independent James Ford 15,960 2nd
Haldimand—Norfolk  Independent Gary McHale 4,821 4th
Lethbridge  Christian Her. Geoffrey Capp 1,094 5th
Newmarket—Aurora  Progressive Cdn Dorian Baxter 1,004 5th
Niagara West—Glanbrook  Christian Her. Dave Bylsma 1,118 5th
Oxford  Christian Her. Shaun MacDonald 1,036 5th
Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier  Independent André Arthur 15,063 1st
Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier  Independent Jean Paradis 1,039 6th
Provencher  Christian Her. David Reimer 1,170 5th
Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques  Independent Louise Thibault 1,966 5th
Simcoe—Grey  Christian Her. Peter Van der Zaag 1,018 5th
Skeena—Bulkley Valley  Christian Her. Rod Taylor 1,125 5th
Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry  Independent Howard Galganov 2,581 4th

Results by province

[edit]
Party name BC AB SK MB ON QC NB NS PE NL NU NT YT Total
  Conservative Seats: 22 27 13 9 51 10 6 3 1 - 1 - - 143
  Vote: 44.4 64.6 53.7 48.8 39.2 21.7 39.4 26.1 36.2 16.5 34.8 37.6 32.8 37.6
  Liberal Seats: 5 - 1 1 38 14 3 5 3 6 - - 1 77
  Vote: 19.3 11.4 14.9 19.1 33.8 23.7 32.4 29.8 47.7 46.6 29.2 13.6 45.3 26.2
  Bloc Québécois Seats:           49               49
  Vote:           38.1               10.0
  New Democratic Seats: 9 1 - 4 17 1 1 2 - 1 - 1 - 37
  Vote: 25.0 12.7 25.6 24.0 18.2 12.2 21.9 28.9 9.8 33.9 27.6 41.5 9.0 18.2
Green Vote: 9.4 8.8 5.6 6.8 8.0 3.5 6.2 8.0 4.7 1.7 8.4 5.5 13.0 6.8
  Independent / No affiliation Seats: 1 1         2
  Vote:     0.6   6.6           0.7
  Total seats: 36 28 14 14 106 75 10 11 4 7 1 1 1 308

Seats that changed hands

[edit]

Incumbent MPs not running for re-election

[edit]

Conservatives

[edit]
Electoral District Resigning incumbent Succeeded by
NL St. John's East   Norman Doyle[112]   Jack Harris
NL St. John's South—Mount Pearl   Loyola Hearn[113]   Siobhán Coady
ON Thunder Bay—Superior North   Joe Comuzzi[114]   Bruce Hyer
MB Portage—Lisgar   Brian Pallister[115]   Candice Hoeppner
SK Palliser   Dave Batters[116]   Ray Boughen
SK Prince Albert   Brian Fitzpatrick[117]   Randy Hoback
SK Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar   Carol Skelton[118]   Kelly Block
AB Calgary Northeast   Art Hanger[119]   Devinder Shory
AB Edmonton—St. Albert   John G. Williams[120]   Brent Rathgeber
AB Edmonton—Sherwood Park   Ken Epp[121]   Tim Uppal
AB Medicine Hat   Monte Solberg[122]   LaVar Payne
AB Red Deer   Bob Mills[123]   Earl Dreeshen
AB Wild Rose   Myron Thompson[124]   Blake Richards
BC Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo   Betty Hinton[125]   Cathy McLeod
BC Vancouver Kingsway   David Emerson[113]   Don Davies

Liberals

[edit]
Electoral District Resigning incumbent Succeeded by
NL Random—Burin—St. George's   Bill Matthews[126]   Judy Foote
PEI Egmont   Joe McGuire[127]   Gail Shea
NB Fredericton   Andy Scott[128]   Keith Ashfield
QC LaSalle—Émard   Paul Martin[129]   Lise Zarac
ON Brampton West   Colleen Beaumier[130]   Andrew Kania
ON Etobicoke North   Roy Cullen[131]   Kirsty Duncan
ON Huron—Bruce   Paul Steckle[132]   Ben Lobb
ON Newmarket—Aurora   Belinda Stronach[133]   Lois Brown
ON Nickel Belt   Raymond Bonin[134]   Claude Gravelle
ON Scarborough Southwest   Tom Wappel[135]   Michelle Simson
NU Nunavut   Nancy Karetak-Lindell[136]   Leona Aglukkaq

Bloc Québécois

[edit]
Electoral District Resigning incumbent Succeeded by
QC Drummond   Pauline Picard   Roger Pomerleau
QC Longueuil—Pierre-Boucher   Caroline St-Hilaire   Jean Dorion
QC Repentigny   Raymond Gravel[137]   Nicolas Dufour
QC Rivière-des-Mille-Îles   Gilles Perron   Luc Desnoyers

New Democrats

[edit]
Electoral District Resigning incumbent Succeeded by
NS Halifax   Alexa McDonough[138]   Megan Leslie
MB Elmwood—Transcona   Bill Blaikie[139]   Jim Maloway
BC Surrey North   Penny Priddy[140]   Dona Cadman

Vacancies upon dissolution

[edit]

By-elections in progress in four vacant ridings were cancelled when the general election was called.

Electoral District Previous MP New MP
QC Saint-Lambert   Maka Kotto   Josée Beaudin
QC Westmount—Ville-Marie   Lucienne Robillard   Marc Garneau
ON Don Valley West   John Godfrey   Rob Oliphant
ON Guelph   Brenda Chamberlain   Frank Valeriote

Defeated incumbents

[edit]

Conservatives

[edit]
Electoral District Incumbent Defeated by
NL Avalon   Fabian Manning   Scott Andrews
QC Louis-Hébert   Luc Harvey   Pascal-Pierre Paillé
ON Mississauga—Streetsville   Wajid Khan   Bonnie Crombie
AB Edmonton—Strathcona   Rahim Jaffer   Linda Duncan

Liberals

[edit]
Electoral District Incumbent Defeated by
NS West Nova   Robert Thibault   Greg Kerr
NB Miramichi   Charles Hubbard   Tilly O'Neill-Gordon
NB Saint John   Paul Zed   Rodney Weston
ON Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing   Brent St. Denis   Carol Hughes
ON Brant   Lloyd St. Amand   Phil McColeman
ON Halton   Garth Turner   Lisa Raitt
ON Kenora   Roger Valley   Greg Rickford
ON Kitchener Centre   Karen Redman   Stephen Woodworth
ON Kitchener—Waterloo   Andrew Telegdi   Peter Braid
ON London West   Sue Barnes   Ed Holder
ON Mississauga—Erindale   Omar Alghabra   Bob Dechert
ON Oak Ridges—Markham   Lui Temelkovski   Paul Calandra
ON Oakville   Bonnie Brown   Terence Young
ON Sudbury   Diane Marleau   Glenn Thibeault
ON Thornhill   Susan Kadis   Peter Kent
ON Thunder Bay—Rainy River   Ken Boshcoff   John Rafferty
ON Welland   John Maloney   Malcolm Allen
MB Churchill   Tina Keeper   Niki Ashton
MB Saint Boniface   Raymond Simard   Shelly Glover
BC Richmond   Raymond Chan   Alice Wong
BC North Vancouver   Don Bell   Andrew Saxton

New Democrats

[edit]
Electoral District Incumbent Defeated by
ON Parkdale—High Park   Peggy Nash   Gerard Kennedy
BC Vancouver Island North   Catherine Bell   John Duncan

Bloc Québécois

[edit]
Electoral District Incumbent Defeated by
QC Brossard—La Prairie   Marcel Lussier   Alexandra Mendès[141]
QC Papineau   Vivian Barbot   Justin Trudeau

Greens

[edit]
Electoral District Incumbent Defeated by
BC West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country   Blair Wilson   John Weston

Independents

[edit]
Electoral District Incumbent Defeated by
QC Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques   Louise Thibault   Claude Guimond

See also

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ The Conservatives chose not to field a candidate in Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, as the incumbent Independent MP André Arthur consistently sided with them in votes in the House.
  2. ^ The Liberals opted not to field a candidate in Central Nova, so as not to oppose Elizabeth May in her campaign for a Green seat.
  3. ^ Lesley Hughes of Kildonan—St. Paul was nominated as a Liberal, but lost party support after the nomination deadline and continued to run as an independent; she was listed as a Liberal on the ballot.[110][111]
  4. ^ Includes Julian West (Saanich—Gulf Islands) and Andrew McKeever (Durham), who withdrew their candidacies but still appeared on the ballot.

References

[edit]
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  68. ^ Harper denies latest allegations of speech plagiarism. CBC News. October 4, 2008.
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  95. ^ More cars damaged as election vandalism spreads in Toronto, CBCnews.ca, October 6, 2008
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  101. ^ Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River
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  120. ^ Thirteen years long enough for MP Ken Epp Archived March 11, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, Edmonton Journal, August 18, 2006
  121. ^ Solberg retiring from politics, The Globe and Mail, September 3, 2008
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  129. ^ Longtime MP resigns and opens door for new election candidate, The Brampton Guardian, September 5, 2008
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  131. ^ Veteran MP to retire from politics, The London Free Press, March 7, 2007
  132. ^ Belinda Stronach to quit politics, Toronto Star, April 11, 2007
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  137. ^ Alexa McDonough retires from federal politics Archived September 16, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, CTV News, June 2, 2008
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  140. ^ "Liberals win seat in Quebec following recount", The Globe and Mail, October 24, 2008.
  1. ^ Only contested seats in Quebec.

Further reading

[edit]
[edit]

Projections and predictions

[edit]