Conservative Party of Canada: 99 seats
Liberal Party of Canada: 184 seats
New Democratic Party of Canada: 44 seats
Bloc Quebecois: 10 seats
Green Party: 1 seat
Majority win for the Liberals
In a stunning defeat for the Conservative Party and Stephen Harper, Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party has formed a majority government. The Conservative Party will form the Official Opposition thanks to major losses to the NDP’s base in Quebec and Ontario.
Atlantic Canada: Red wave
The waters of the Maritime provinces are running red — not with blood, but with Liberal candidates. At the time of writing, Liberals have captured 29 of Atlantic Canada’s 32 seats, and are leading in the undecided three. Among the winners so far is Seamus O’Regan, a broadcast journalist who reported for CTV National News and co-hosted Canada AM. Many on Twitter mourned the defeat of NDP candidate Megan Leslie in Halifax:
Megan Leslie is a huge loss, for the NDP (duh) but also for Parliament. Suspect we'll see her again. #cdnpoli
— Emmett Macfarlane (@EmmMacfarlane) October 20, 2015
Pre-marked ballots?
Reports have been popping up so far in British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Ontario of pre-marked ballots. In most cases, the “pre-marked” candidate has been Conservative.
Background
One of the longest campaigns in Canadian history has no doubt been exhausting, both in terms of media coverage and the amount of ground each candidate for prime minister has covered since Governor David Johnston officially dropped the writ on Aug. 2.
At first, the election looked to be the NDP’s to win. As a result of the 2011 Canadian federal election, it became the official opposition party for the first time in Canadian history. However, as the weeks have dragged on, the momentum has shifted towards Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party.
More than anything, this election will be seen as a test of how well the Stephen Harper government has performed. Trudeau and Mulcair have both jumped on Harper, accusing him of dividing Canadians and pandering to Islamophobes with legislation aimed at the niqab.
Also at issue is Bill C-51, the controversial law that gives sweeping new powers to intelligence and law enforcement agencies to deal with perceived terrorist threats. A Trudeau government would remove and change certain aspects while a Mulcair government would repeal it completely.
Each party has different ideas on how it would spend money, as well as when it would have a balanced budget. Digital Journal has summarized each party’s platform here.
Digital Journal has also analyzed how effectively each party has used social media, and how that might affect each candidate’s chances tonight as the ballots are counted.
