 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
308 seats in theHouse of Commons 155 seats needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opinion polls | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 61.1% ( 2.3pp) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Results byriding Results byprovince and territory | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The2011 Canadian federal election was held on May 2, 2011, to elect members to theHouse of Commons of Canada of the41st Canadian Parliament.
Thewrits of election for the 2011 election were issued byGovernor GeneralDavid Johnston on March 26.Prime MinisterStephen Harper advised the Governor General to dissolve parliament after the House of Commons passed amotion of non-confidence against the government, finding it to be incontempt of Parliament. A few days before, the three opposition parties had rejected theminority government's proposed budget.[1]
TheConservative Party remained in power, increasing its seat count from a minority to amajority government, marking the first election since1988 that aright-of-centre party formed a majority government. TheLiberal Party, sometimes dubbed the "natural governing party", was reduced to third party status for the first time as they won the fewest seats in its history, and party leaderMichael Ignatieff was defeated inhis riding. TheBloc Québécois lostofficial party status for the first time since contesting general elections in 1993. Party leaderGilles Duceppe was defeated inhis riding and subsequently resigned as leader. TheNew Democratic Party led byJack Layton won the largest number of seats in its history, enabling it to form theOfficial Opposition for the first time in the party's history, as they made a major breakthrough inQuebec. TheGreen Party elected its first member to the House of Commons with its leader,Elizabeth May, becoming MP forSaanich—Gulf Islands.
To date, this is the only election in Canadian history in which the modern dayConservative Party won a majority of seats.
The2008 federal election resulted in the continuation of the incumbentConservative minority government, headed byStephen Harper. The 40th Parliament was marked by two controversialprorogations: the first in December 2008 which ended anattempted opposition coalition, and the second a year following, which promptedpublic protests. Following the first prorogation, Michael Ignatieff and the Liberal Party provided support for the government of Prime MinisterStephen Harper. On August 31, 2009, the Liberals withdrew their backing but the NDP underJack Layton abstained and the Conservatives survived the confidence motion.[2]Ignatieff's attempt to force a September 2009 election was reported as a miscalculation, as polls showed that most Canadians did not want another election.[3][4] Ignatieff's popularity as well as that of the Liberals dropped off considerably immediately afterwards.[5]
In 2011,Elections Canada laidcharges against the Conservative Party, alleging contraventions of the Canada Elections Act five years earlier.[6][7][8] This issue, along with the Bloc Québécois announcing its intention to vote against the budget, unless it contained numerous changes including $2 billion in compensation to Quebec for harmonizing PST and GST and funding for a new NHL arena inQuebec City, increased the speculation that there would be an election called soon as the Conservatives rejected the Bloc demands as "blackmail".[9]
On March 9, 2011,Speaker of the House of CommonsPeter Milliken ruled thatBev Oda, aminister of the Crown, and, separately, theCabinet itself could both possibly be incontempt of parliament,[10] the latter for its ongoing refusal to meet opposition requests for details of proposed bills and their cost estimates.[11] Milliken directed both matters to committee and set as the deadline for its report March 21, 2011, one day before the budget was to be tabled. The committee found the government to be in contempt of Parliament.[12] The vote divided along party lines, with the governing but minority Conservativemembers of Parliament (MPs) opposing the finding and issuing a dissenting report.[11] After the committee released its findings,opposition leader and head of theLiberal PartyMichael Ignatieff proposed amotion of no confidence against the Crown-in-Council,[13][14] and on March 25, 2011, the House of Commons voted on the motion, the majority agreeing, by a margin of 156 to 145, with the committee's conclusions.[15][16][17] A cabinet being found in contempt of parliament was without precedent in Canada or any otherCommonwealth country.[15][16] Earlier that week, all three opposition parties had indicated that they would oppose the government's budget; the NDP said that the concessions that the Conservatives made did not go far enough.[1]
The parties'campaign slogans for the 2011 election:[citation needed]
| March 25, 2011 | The Liberal Party's no-confidence motion passes the House 156–145, and thePrime Minister moves for the House to adjourn.[19] |
| March 26, 2011 | Governor GeneralDavid Johnston agrees to dissolve the40th Parliament following a meeting with Prime MinisterStephen Harper.[20] |
| April 12, 2011 | English leaders' debate. |
| April 13, 2011 | French leaders' debate. |
| April 22, 23 and 25, 2011 | Advance polls open[21] |
| May 2, 2011 | Polling Day |
| May 23, 2011 | Return of Writs[22] |
| June 2, 2011 | 41st Parliament convenes[23] |
| Category | Issue | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Crime and law enforcement | Internet surveillance and warrant-less wiretapping | The Conservatives promised to re-introduceInternet surveillance legislation that they were not able to pass, and bundle it with the rest of their crime bills. They said they plan to fast track the legislation within 100 days after taking office.[24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][excessive citations] |
| Long gun registry | Harper pledged to scrap thelong-gunregistry.[32] | |
| Crime strategies | The Conservative platform included a promise to consolidate twelve crime bills into at least one omnibus bill and pass it within 100 days of forming a majority government. The bills included within that list would crack down on organized drug crime, end house arrest for violent criminals and establish tougher sentences and mandatory jail time for sexual offences against children.[33] The opposition parties claimed the crime bills were not costed fully, and the opposition parties countered that this would create a US style system of prisons.[34] The Conservatives have not released the costs for expanding theprison system. The other parties state that more focus should be given oncrime prevention, so that it doesn't happen in the first place.[34] The New Democratic Party (NDP) stated that their promise to hire 2,500 morepolice officers to patrol the streets, will help in preventing crime from occurring in the first place.[35][36][37][38] | |
| Defence policy | The Conservatives plan to purchase 65F-35 Lightning II jet fighters. Stating that "Ourdefence policy is broken", the NDP announced that they would prioritize investment innaval ships over new fighter jets. The NDP stated that this would be a good opportunity to keepshipbuilding expertise and jobs in Canada.[39][40][41][42] | |
| Economy and fiscal policy | Balanced budget and recession | Conservatives argued that they steered the economy through the2008 financial crisis, and promised to eliminate thebudget deficit by 2014–15.[43][44] Former Prime Minister Paul Martin, campaigning for the Liberals, challenged assertions, noting that his Liberal government left a $13 billionbudget surplus, before the Conservatives took power.[45][46] In 2010, Paul Martin had been invited to the prestigious Global ARC conference to discuss that elimination of the Canadian government deficit.[47] Martin also claimed that when he was Finance minister working under Jean Chretien, his blocking ofproposed bank mergers is what actually sheltered Canada from the worst effects of the recession.[46][48][49] The New Democratic Party (NDP) released its platform promising abalanced budget in four years.[50] After the NDP surge, the Liberals called the NDP platform "science fiction"[51] stating it contains over $30 billion in new spending derived from sources that are not credible, and that implementing a cap and trade system that would take years to realize rather than provide the in-year contributions as claimed.[51] |
| Corporate tax cuts and job creation strategy | The Conservatives stated that their plan to cut corporate taxes from 16.5% to 15%, will create more jobs.[52] Harper stated that an increase in corporate taxes will create job losses across Canada. Layton countered by saying currently the jobs are shipped overseas, and pledged a $4,500 job creation tax credit to all businesses per new hire.[53] Layton further went to say thatsmall business are the ones creating more jobs, thus he promised to lower the tax rate for small business from 11% to 9%. He then went on to say the big business are using the corporate tax cuts by providing their CEOs with big bonuses, and thus pledged to increase their tax rate to 19.5%.[34][54] The Liberals on the other hand, will raise the rate to 18%, stating that it will be competitive but not excessively low. | |
| Increasing Canada Pension Plan | The NDP promised a gradual doubling ofCanada Pension Plan and QPP benefits, in conjunction with the provinces, with an increase in payroll deductions of as much as 2.5 per cent.[55] | |
| HST referendum in BC | If BC voters were to reject theHarmonized Sales Tax in the upcoming referendum, the NDP promised to ensure that the penalties to be imposed by Ottawa on the HST agreement will be cancelled.[56][57][58][59] | |
| Personal taxation | Conservatives promised income splitting for tax purposes for families with children to be implemented once the budget is balanced in 2013.[60] | |
| Electoral reform and political honesty | Political honesty | The New Democratic Party stated that both the Conservatives and the Liberals cannot be trusted. The NDP accused the Conservatives of creating "Liberal-stylescandals"[61] and accused the Liberals of flip-flopping on issues such ascorporate tax cuts, and theAfghanistan mission.[62][63][64] Throughout the election various polls had shown the political honesty issue to be low on the list of priorities for voters. Post-media conducted a survey that found health care, the economy, taxes and jobs all more important to Canadians. Further, half of voters identified Harper as the best suited to be Prime Minister followed by Layton with one third support and Ignatieff with less than twenty percent support. On the question of a hidden agenda, Ignatieff is viewed by three times more of those polled to have a hidden agenda than Harper.[65] |
| Political financing | Conservatives pledged to phase-outper-vote subsidy over two years, with its eventual cancellation.[55] | |
| Senate | Stephen Harper promisedSenate reform without changing the constitution.[66] The NDP pledged to abolish the Senate, stating it is a waste of tax revenues and a form ofpatronage.[34] | |
| Promised government programs | Newfoundland hydroelectric project and Quebec's HST | Conservatives, New Democrats and Liberals promised $4.2 billion in loan guarantees to support theLower Churchill River power project.[67] Due to outcry from Quebec over the pledge to provide loan guarantees for the Lower Churchill project, the Conservatives promise Quebec a $2.2 billion transfer to ease theQuebec Sales Tax toHarmonized Sales Tax transition.[68] |
| Post-secondary education | Liberals promised a "Learning Passport" for high school students seeking post-secondary education.[69] The NDP's plan is to reduce the tuition fees, by increasingtransfer payments to the Provinces. | |
| Immigration Fairness Commissioner | Liberals proposed the establishment of an "Immigration Fairness Commissioner" to provide oversight on the entry of immigrants with professional qualifications (doctors, engineers, etc.), and to increase the number of family reunification visas.[70] | |
| Health care | The NDP pledged to train 1,200 more doctors and 6,000 more nurses.[71][72][73][74][75] All parties promised to continue to increase healthcare transfers to provinces by 6% annually. | |
| Government regulations | Improved internet and usage based billing | The New Democratic Party (NDP) promised a ban on all forms ofusage based billing by ISPs, and enshrinenet neutrality in law, which would preventbandwidth throttling. The Liberals promised net neutrality as well as "functional separation" with regards to usage based billing as well as enshrining net neutrality in law, which would preventbandwidth throttling.[76][77] Almost all of the established parties, with the exception of the Conservatives, outlined policies that they claim will improve Canadian Internet access.[78] |
| Cap on credit card interest rates | The NDP promised to capcredit card rates at five percentage points above the Bank of Canada's prime interest rate.[79] | |
A number of controversies took place during the election campaign.
The English- and French-language debates took place on April 12 and 13 respectively.[80][81]
On March 29, theconsortium of broadcasters playing host to the debates (theCBC,CTV,Global,Radio-Canada andTVA) announced that it would only invite the leaders of the four recognized parties in the House of Commons, namely, the Conservative Party, the Liberal Party, the Bloc Québécois and the New Democratic (NDP). Therefore, the Green Party wasexcluded, despite earning 6.8 per cent of the popular vote in the2008 federal election.[82][83][84][85]
On March 30, Stephen Harper challenged Michael Ignatieff to a one-on-one televised debate.[86] Although Ignatieff accepted the challenge, this was opposed by the other opposition parties. The idea was later rejected by the broadcast consortium and cancelled.
On April 1, comedianRick Mercer suggested over Twitter hosting a one-on-one debate between Stephen Harper and Michael Ignatieff at Toronto'sMassey Hall. He later added he would donate $50,000 to the charities of their choosing if they were willing to participate. Ignatieff immediately accepted the challenge and named theAlzheimer Society as his charity of choice, as his mother succumbed to Alzheimer's disease in 1992. Harper did not respond to the challenge.[87]
In an interview withThe Globe and Mail published on April 1, Troy Reeb, thebroadcast consortium chairman, discussed the process behind setting up the leaders' debates and the rationale for various decisions made, including the decision to exclude the Green Party's leader Elizabeth May.[88]
On April 5, the Federal Court rejected the Green Party's request for an expedited hearing on the matter prior to the scheduled debates.[89]
On April 10, the date of the French leaders debate was changed from April 14 to 13 due to worries of broadcasting conflicts with theNHL playoffs scheduled for April 14.[81] Also on April 10, Elizabeth May participated in a panel interview onCHCH-TV inHamilton, which she was invited to attend, as were the leaders of the Bloc, Liberals, New Democrats and Conservatives, byChannel Zero, whose president was disappointed by May's exclusion from the leaders' debates.[90]
A joint press conference and public forum was staged by 11 of the 18 registered parties and one unregistered party on April 23, 2011, atYork University. Forum organizers invited the leaders from all registered political parties who do not have seats in parliament.[91] Parties were able to explain their platforms and responded to questions from the audience. As a forum, the goal was an inter-party discussion of major issues, however some debate did occur.
Participants in the forum were theAnimal Alliance Environmental Voters, theCanadian Action Party, theChristian Heritage Party, theCommunist Party, theFirst Peoples National, theLibertarian Party, theMarijuana Party, theMarxist–Leninist Party, theRhinoceros Party, and thePirate Party.
Green Party leaderElizabeth May refused to participate in the forum claiming they are not one of "the small, fringe parties".[92]
| Opinion polling for Canadian federal elections |
|---|
| 2008 |
| Opinion polls |
| 2011 |
| Opinion polls •By constituency |
| 2015 |
| Opinion polls •By constituency |
| 2019 |
| Opinion polls •By constituency |
| 2021 |
| Opinion polls •By constituency |
In the week before the leaders debate, on April 8, a poll showed the New Democratic Party (NDP) support at 13.2%.[93][94]A reversal of fortune began on April 16, when an Angus Reid poll indicated a tie in support for the NDP and the Liberals, both polling at 25%.[95][96][97] The New Democrats' poll numbers then moved significantly ahead of the Liberals and slightly or moderately behind the Conservatives.[98][99][100]
The surge began in Quebec, with the NDP surprising many observers by surpassing the previously front-running Bloc in Quebec. In the entirety of Canada, the NDP surged past the Liberals to take the second place behind the Conservatives; in Quebec, the NDP took first place.[101][102] The NDP surge became the dominant narrative of the last week of the campaign, as other parties turned their attacks on the party.[103]Ruth Ellen Brosseau, the NDP candidate inBerthier—Maskinongé, won despite not running a campaign, barely speaking French at this time[104] and being on holiday inLas Vegas at the time of the election.[105] The NDP's rise in popularity was nicknamedOrange Crush, an allusion tothe soft drink with the same name and the party's colour.[106] It was also nicknamed theOrange Wave.[107]
Pre-campaign, there are no limits to what a political party, candidate, or third party can spend — spending rules are only in force once the writ is dropped and the campaign has officially begun.
| Spending Limit | Notes | |
|---|---|---|
| Political Parties | $21,025,793.23 | If full slate of 308 candidates. |
| Party Candidates (Average electoral district) | $28,244,498.50 ($91,702.92) | If full slate of 308 candidates. Each electoral district is subject to specific spending limits according to population and density.[108] The limits for candidates varied from $69,635 in the electoral district of Malpeque, Prince Edward Island, to $134,352 in Oak Ridges–Markham, Ontario.[109] |
| Third Parties (corporations, unions, special interest groups, etc.) | $150,000 | Election advertising expenses limit. Of that amount, no more than $3,000 can be incurred to promote or oppose the election of one or more candidates in a particular electoral district.[110] |
| Party | Total Spending (% of limit) | Party Election Spending (% of limit) | Total Candidate Spending (% of limit) | # Candidates Spending > 75% of Candidate Limit | # Candidates Spending > 50% of Candidate Limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | $39,175,131 (80%) | $19,519,995 (93%) | $19,655,136 (70%) | 173 | 228 |
| NDP | $27,490,193 (56%) | $20,372,231 (97%) | $7,117,962 (25%) | 44 | 70 |
| Liberal | $34,025,109 (69%) | $19,507,746 (93%) | $14,517,363 (41%) | 91 | 169 |
Most major newspapers endorsed the Conservatives, and none solely endorsed the Liberals or Greens. Canada's highest circulated newspaper, theToronto Star, endorsed the NDP but also advised readers to vote against the Conservatives.
Articles on parties' candidates for the 41st election:
| Party | Party leader | Candidates | Seats | Popular vote | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Dissol. | 2011 | % Change | % seats | # | # Change | % | pp Change | ||||
| Conservative | Stephen Harper | 307 | 143 | 143 | 166 | +16.08% | 53.90% | 5,835,270 | +626,201 | 39.63% | +1.98pp | |
| New Democratic | Jack Layton | 308 | 37 | 36 | 103 | +178.38% | 33.44% | 4,512,411 | +1,997,123 | 30.65% | +12.47pp | |
| Liberal | Michael Ignatieff | 3081 | 77 | 77 | 34 | −42.86% | 11.04% | 2,783,076 | −850,109 | 18.90% | −7.36pp | |
| Bloc Québécois | Gilles Duceppe | 75 | 49 | 47 | 4 | −91.84% | 1.30% | 891,425 | −488,566 | 6.05% | −3.92pp | |
| Green | Elizabeth May | 304 | — | — | 1 | n/a | 0.32% | 572,095 | −365,518 | 3.89% | −2.89pp | |
| Independent and No Affiliation | 61 | 2 | 2 | — | −100% | — | 72,861 | −21,983 | 0.49% | −0.19pp | ||
| Christian Heritage | James Hnatiuk | 46 | — | — | — | — | — | 18,910 | −7,565 | 0.13% | −0.06pp | |
| Marxist–Leninist | Anna Di Carlo | 70 | — | — | — | — | — | 9,925 | +1,360 | 0.07% | +0.01pp | |
| Libertarian | Dennis Young | 23 | — | — | — | — | — | 6,002 | −1,298 | 0.04% | −0.01pp | |
| Progressive Canadian | Sinclair Stevens | 9 | — | — | — | — | — | 5,790 | −70 | 0.04% | — | |
| Rhinoceros2 | François Gourd | 14 | — | — | — | — | — | 3,800 | +1,678 | 0.03% | +0.01pp | |
| Pirate | Mikkel Paulson | 10 | * | — | — | * | — | 3,197 | * | 0.02% | * | |
| Communist | Miguel Figueroa | 20 | — | — | — | — | — | 2,894 | −678 | 0.02% | −0.01pp | |
| Canadian Action | Christopher Porter | 12 | — | — | — | — | — | 1,951 | −1,504 | 0.01% | −0.01pp | |
| Marijuana | Blair Longley | 5 | — | — | — | — | — | 1,756 | −542 | 0.01% | — | |
| Animal Alliance | Liz White | 7 | — | — | — | — | — | 1,344 | +817 | 0.01% | +0.01pp | |
| Western Block | Doug Christie | 4 | — | — | — | — | — | 751 | +326 | 0.01% | — | |
| United | Brian Jedan | 3 | * | — | — | * | — | 293 | * | 0.00% | * | |
| First Peoples National | Will Morin | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | 229 | −1,382 | 0.00% | −0.01pp | |
| Vacant | 3 | |||||||||||
| Total | 1,587 | 308 | 308 | 308 | ±0.0% | 100.0% | 14,723,980 | +886,286 | 100% | |||
| Source:Elections Canada | ||||||||||||
The voter turnout was 61.1%.[115]
| Party | 2008 | Gain from (loss to) | 2011 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Con | NDP | Lib | BQ | Grn | Ind | |||||||
| Conservative | 143 | 2 | (6) | 27 | (1) | 1 | 166 | |||||
| New Democratic | 37 | 6 | (2) | 17 | (1) | 45 | 1 | 103 | ||||
| Liberal | 77 | (27) | 1 | (17) | 34 | |||||||
| Bloc Québécois | 49 | (45) | 4 | |||||||||
| Green | – | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Independent | 2 | (1) | (1) | – | ||||||||
| Total | 308 | 7 | (30) | 3 | (69) | 44 | (1) | 45 | (1) | 2 | 308 | |
| Source | Party | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Con | NDP | Lib | BQ | Grn | Total | ||
| Seats retained | Incumbents returned | 128 | 33 | 31 | 3 | 195 | |
| Open seats held | 8 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 12 | ||
| Ouster of incumbents changing affiliation | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Seats changing hands | Incumbents defeated | 26 | 61 | 1 | 88 | ||
| Open seats gained | 1 | 7 | 8 | ||||
| Byelection gains held | 2 | 1 | 3 | ||||
| Ouster of 3rd-party byelection gain | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Total | 166 | 103 | 34 | 4 | 1 | 308 | |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Party name | BC | AB | SK | MB | ON | QC | NB | NS | PE | NL | YT | NT | NU | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | Seats: | 21 | 27 | 13 | 11 | 73 | 5 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 166 | |
| Vote: | 45.5 | 66.8 | 56.3 | 53.5 | 44.4 | 16.5 | 43.9 | 36.7 | 41.2 | 28.4 | 33.8 | 32.1 | 49.9 | 39.6 | ||
| New Democratic | Seats: | 12 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 22 | 59 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 103 | |
| Vote: | 32.5 | 16.8 | 32.3 | 25.8 | 25.6 | 42.9 | 29.8 | 30.3 | 15.4 | 32.6 | 14.4 | 45.8 | 19.4 | 30.6 | ||
| Liberal | Seats: | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 34 | |
| Vote: | 13.4 | 9.3 | 8.6 | 16.6 | 25.3 | 14.2 | 22.6 | 28.9 | 41.0 | 37.9 | 33.0 | 18.4 | 28.6 | 18.9 | ||
| Bloc Québécois | Seats: | — | 4 | — | 4 | |||||||||||
| Vote: | 23.4 | 6.0 | ||||||||||||||
| Green | Seats: | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Vote: | 7.7 | 5.3 | 2.7 | 3.6 | 3.8 | 2.1 | 3.2 | 4.0 | 2.4 | 0.9 | 18.9 | 3.1 | 2.1 | 3.9 | ||
| Independent and no affiliation | Vote: | 0.2 | 1.3 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.4 | ||||||
| Total seats | 36 | 28 | 14 | 14 | 106 | 75 | 10 | 11 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 308 | ||
With an overall voter turnout of 61.4% and 14,823,408 ballots cast,[116] theConservative Party remained in power, moving from aminority to amajority government[117] by winning 166 of the 308 seats.[118] TheNew Democratic Party won the largest number of seats in their history, including a large majority of seats inQuebec (where they had previously only ever elected two candidates[fn 1]) and formed theOfficial Opposition for the first time. TheLiberal Party won the fewest seats in their history and party leaderMichael Ignatieff was defeated in his ownriding.[fn 2] TheBloc Québécois, which had always won at least a majority of seats in Quebec in every election of their existence, lost nearly all their seats, and thus also theirofficial party status, including the seat of their leaderGilles Duceppe.[119]Green Party leaderElizabeth May became the firstMember ofParliament elected to represent the party.[105]
Elections Canada ordered threejudicialrecounts,[120] and an elector initiated a fourth.[121] TheCanada Elections Act states that "a judicial recount is required when the difference in votes between the first- and second-place candidates is less than one one-thousandth of the total votes cast in a riding," and allows an elector or candidate in any riding to approach a judge and request a recount regardless of the final result.[120] In all four ridings,Etobicoke Centre,Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup,Nipissing—Timiskaming, andWinnipeg North, the validated result was confirmed:
Ignatieff announced on May 3, 2011, that he would step down as leader of theLiberal Party when it chose his successor.[105][129] Ignatieff took a teaching position at theUniversity of Toronto after his defeat inEtobicoke—Lakeshore. He decided to teach classes in the law faculty, the department of political science, theMunk School of Global Affairs and the School of Public Policy and Governance. Ignatieff stated that, "The life that I like the best is teaching. It's the end of my life as a politician".[130]Bob Rae, Liberal MP forToronto Centre and former Premier of Ontario (1990 to 1995, as a New Democrat), subsequently becameinterim leader of the Liberal Party, with aLiberal leadership election which took place April 14, 2013, during which Justin Trudeau was chosen as leader.
Duceppe resigned as Bloc Québécois leader on election night following his defeat.[105]Louis Plamondon, MP forBas-Richelieu—Nicolet—Bécancour andDean of the House, subsequently became interimparliamentary leader of the Bloc. Former MPDaniel Paillé, who lost his seat in the election, won theBloc leadership election to succeed Duceppe on December 11, 2011.[131]
On July 25, 2011, Jack Layton took a leave of absence to fight a newly diagnosed cancer.Nycole Turmel, former union leader and newly elected MP forHull—Aylmer, was named interim leader of the New Democratic Party. On August 22,Layton died. Turmel became opposition leader. Aleadership election was held on March 24, 2012, andTom Mulcair was elected leader of theNew Democratic Party.[132]
The losing parties in theBerthier—Maskinongé riding claimed that the nomination papers forRuth Ellen Brosseau, the newly elected NDP Member of Parliament for the riding, had irregularities.[133] Some of the alleged irregularities include writing an address instead of signing, missing signatures, people thinking they were signing a petition for the NDP to name a candidate in the riding and one person not remembering that he signed her nomination papers even though he admitted that the signature looks like his.[133] The NDP denied the allegations.[133] Elections Canada has insisted that Brosseau's nomination papers were legitimate.[134] Elections Canada stated that "The decision to overturn or uphold the results is at the discretion of the courts and not Elections Canada".[134]
TheLiberal Party of Canada attracted controversy regarding the past racist comments and White supremacist history of one of its candidates in northern Quebec, Andre Forbes. His history as a white supremacist activist and past hate speech against Muslims, First Nations and LGBTQ+ people was uncovered by the NDP. Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff immediately removed Forbes as a candidate.[135]
In early 2012, there were allegations of voter suppression during the election, starting therobocall scandal.Elections Canada and theRoyal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) investigated claims that robocalls were used in an attempt to dissuade voters from casting their ballot by telling them their poll stations had changed location.[136] While the Elections Canada investigation initially focused on calls sent into Guelph amidst nationwide complaints, the investigation continued to expand in scope and to examine complaints in other ridings across the country. Reports of fraudulent automated or live calls targeting opposition supporters were published in 100 ridings[137] and Elections Canada acknowledged it was investigating telephone election fraud complaints in 247 of Canada's 308 federal ridings.
On March 27, 2012, theCouncil of Canadians announced that they had launched a lawsuit in theFederal Court of Canada to ask for by-elections to be ordered in seven ridings where complaints were received and where Conservatives had won by slim margins. The ridings named were Don Valley East, Winnipeg South Centre, Saskatoon-Rosetown-Biggar, Vancouver Island North, Yukon, Nipissing-Timiskaming and Elmwood-Transcona.[138][139] The case was heard over two weeks starting December 9, 2012.[140] Justice Richard G. Mosley ruled in May 2013 that fraud had occurred in Guelph and that voting irregularities and misconduct occurred in all six of the contested ridings, but that it was not significant enough to warrant overturning the election results. The judge also ruled that the mostly likely source of the fraud was the Conservative Party of Canada's (using the CIMS database) and that there was no evidence that its use was approved by the CPC.[141][142]
In April 2013, a criminal charge in the matter was laid onMichael Sona, a former Conservative staffer who was the communications officer and official Ottawa liaison for the Guelph Conservative campaign.[143][144] In August 2014, he was convicted of the charge.[145]
In a further scandal, Elections Canada was called on to investigate the finances ofAssociate Minister of National DefenceJulian Fantino's election finances after three former Conservative riding executives fromVaughan[146][147] signed affidavits alleging impropriety in Fantino's 2010 and 2011 election campaigns. They alleged there was a second, secret, illegal bank account containing $300,000.[148]
In the wake of the election, pundits widely believed in a theme of majorpolitical realignment.[149] TheEconomist said, "the election represents the biggest realignment of Canadian politics since1993."[150]Lawrence Martin, commentator forThe Globe and Mail, claimed that "Harper has completed a remarkable reconstruction of a Canadian political landscape that endured for more than a century. The realignment sees both old parties of the moderate middle, the Progressive Conservatives and the Liberals, either eliminated or marginalized."[151] Writing forMaclean's,Andrew Coyne proclaimed "The West is in and Ontario has joined it," observing that the Conservatives achieved their majority predominantly due to strength in both Ontario and the western provinces (an electoral combination that was historically unlikely due to the low population of the latter); this, he argued, marked "the new axis of Canadian politics", and that "the Conservatives are now in a position to replace the Liberals as thenatural governing party in Canada."[152] Books such asThe Big Shift byJohn Ibbitson andDarrell Bricker, andPeter C. Newman'sWhen the Gods Changed: The Death of Liberal Canada, provocatively asserted that the Liberals had become an "endangered species" and that an NDP-led opposition would mean that "fortune favours the Harper government" in subsequent campaigns.[153][154] However, the resurgence of the Liberal Party in the2015 election has since challenged that narrative.[155][156]
Student votes aremock elections that run parallel to actual elections, in which students not ofvoting age participate. They are administered by Student Vote Canada. Student vote elections are for educational purposes and do not count towards the results. Though there were 308 ridings, only 301 were declared.[157]
| 130 | 113 | 47 | 6 | 5 |
| Conservative | New Democratic | Liberal | Bloc | Green |
| Party | Leader | Seats | Popular vote | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elected | % | Votes | % | |||
| Conservative | Stephen Harper | 130 | 42.2 | 166,893 | 30.97 | |
| New Democratic | Jack Layton | 113 | 36.7 | 140,157 | 26.01 | |
| Liberal | Michael Ignatieff | 47 | 15.3 | 106,166 | 19.70 | |
| Bloc Québécois | Gilles Duceppe | 6 | 1.9 | 7,011 | 1.30 | |
| Green | Elizabeth May | 5 | 1.6 | 93,140 | 17.29 | |
| Other | 0 | 0 | 25,479 | 4.73 | ||
| Total | 301* | 100.00 | 538,846 | 100.00 | ||
| Source: Student Vote Canada[157] | ||||||
Prime minister nudging Canada to the right
The NDP's surging popularity, especially in Quebec, during the last election came to be known as the Orange Crush.
_(cropped).jpg)
.jpg)
.svg)
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Links to related articles | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||||||||||||
