Canada's Election

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper

I don't usually discuss politics on my blog but today Canada held an election and my friend Paula asked me to explain the Canadian political parties so I'll do my best. I worked in Canadian politics for six years, including 3 years on Parliament Hill (where the government of Canada is located).

I'll *try* to keep this short since my 4 loyal readers don't come here for politics. :)

Tonight there was a big, big change to the Canadian political landscape. The Conservative Party led by Stephen Harper won 166 seats (as of 10:30 pm PST) out of the 308 in the Parliament which means they will form a majority government. Last time around the Conservatives had a minority government.This means more stability and less elections. A minitory government can be defeated by a non-confidence vote in the House of Commons. The Liberal leader, Michael Ignatieff, caused this most recent election by such a vote on March 25, 2011. Canada has had 4 national elections in the last 7 years.

The Liberal party, which governed Canada from 1993 until 2006 went from 77 seats down to 34 seats and third place. The Liberals have either been the government or the Official Opposition for most of the last century.

The New Democratic Party, the socialist party, was a big winner, especially in the province of Quebec. The NDP went from 37 seats to 103 (59 of those in Quebec).

To understand Canada, you have to know about Quebec and the drive for sovereignty. There are a lot of Quebecers who want to separate from Canada and become a country. The party that promotes Quebec sovereignty is the Bloc Quebecois. When I worked in Ottawa in the 1990s, the separatists, who want to split Canada up, were the Official Opposition in the House of Commons! The BQ went from having 47 seats in Parliament down to 4 seats! For the first time in 20 years, a majority of the seats in Quebec were won by a federalist party (the New Democrats). This is good for Canada as a whole.

I would like to see the BQ party dissolve. Canada has too many political parties. For many years the conservative vote was split between the Progressive Conservatives and the Reform Party. In 2003, these parties merged and became the Conservative Party of Canada. The liberal/left-wing vote in Canada is split three ways between the Liberals, the NDP, and the Green Party. I don't think Canada will ever have just two political parties like the US but a few less parties would make for a better parliament.

Voter turnout was around 58%.

Well, if you want to read more about the Canadian election, I highly recommend Mark Steyn's column.Pin It