A political earthquake in Canada, as the Liberal party vote collapses across the country and the separatist Bloc Quebecois vote collapses even further in Quebec. The result of division on the left is a majority for Stephen Harper’s Conservative party.
As I’m writing this post, the current numbers are:
- Conservatives — 167 seats
- New Democratic Party — 103 seats (historic high)
- Liberals — 34 seats (with leader Michael Ignatieff losing his own seat)
- Bloc Quebecois — 3 seats (below “official party status”, with leader Gilles Duceppe losing his own seat)
- Greens — 1 seat (historic high, as party leader Elizabeth May wins the first Green seat in parliament)
As I posted in a Twitter update a few hours back, this is the same situation that allowed Liberal leader Jean Chretien to win three straight majorities: a divided opposition. This time, instead of the Progressive Conservatives fighting the Reform Party on the right, it’s the Liberal Party fighting the NDP on the left.
The test facing Jack Layton is how to manage his hugely inflated caucus in the new parliament (with new Quebec MP’s in the majority) and perhaps finding ways to keep the rump of the Liberal party willing to work with his new official opposition.
It must be a great day to be an NDP supporter, with historic gains for the party and new respect for leader Jack Layton.
