Canadian voters have radically redrawn the country’s political landscape, handing the Conservative Party its long-sought majority in an election that decimated the Bloc Québécois and humbled the Liberals.
For the first time in history, the New Democratic Party will form the Official Opposition after an extraordinary breakthrough that propelled the party to more than 100 seats.
The extent of the transformation is startling. The Liberals now hold just four seats west of Guelph, Ont. The Conservatives, formerly shunned by Toronto voters, won nearly half of the seats in that city, twice as many as the Liberals.
The Bloc Québécois, which defined Quebec federal politics for two decades, no longer qualifies for official party status. And Green Party Leader Elizabeth May won the party’s first seat, and the right to a place in the next election’s debates.
Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe lost his seat and resigned. Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff lost his riding. Both defeated leaders were squeezed, like many of their candidates, between growth in Conservative support and Jack Layton’s surging New Democrats.
The night belonged to Stephen Harper, who put his party over the top after five years of minority government and becomes just the third Conservative leader since Confederation to win triple victories.
"We are intensely aware that we are and must be the government of all Canadians, including those that did not vote for us," Mr. Harper said.
Parliament was radically remade. The fragmentation of the 1993 election has been reversed, with the Conservatives and NDP emerging as national parties with support across all regions of the country, although the Tories find themselves in an unusual position, as a majority government with just a handful of Quebec seats.
"I’ve always favoured proposition over opposition," Mr. Layton told a cheering crowd. "But we will oppose the government when it's off track. I will propose constructive solutions focused on helping Canadians."
With almost all polls reporting, the Conservatives were elected in 167 ridings, and the NDP in 102, more than double its best historical tally. The Liberals were reduced to the lowest seat count in their history, elected in just 34 seats. The Bloc had just four.
“I’m leaving, but others will follow, until Quebec becomes a country,” Mr. Duceppe said.
Mr. Ignatieff said he did not plan to step down as Liberal leader, adding that "democracy teaches hard lessons."
The next Parliament will return to the traditional shape of majority government, but it will be a very different House of Commons, with the Official Opposition well left of centre, the regional agenda of the Bloc largely excised, and the wild card of a Green MP.
"We need hope over fear, compassion over competition,” Ms. May told a jubilant crowd, before focusing on the wider Parliament of which she is now a member. “We are elected to serve the people of Canada, not one ideology.”
Worries (and hopes) that the NDP’s jump in the polls would fade at the ballot box did not materialize.
Jack Layton and his party saw support climb nationwide to almost 31 per cent. The Conservatives' popular vote edged up close to the 40-per-cent mark, continuing the steady growth of the last three elections. But the Liberals saw their popular vote plummet to just 19 per cent from 26 per cent.
Mr. Layton will have a large and inexperienced caucus to manage, including Ruth Ellen Brosseau of Berthier-Maskinongé, an assistant pub manager who barely speaks French, doesn’t live in the riding and vacationed in Las Vegas during the campaign – but still won by double digits over the Bloc candidate.
