Canadians Change The Pillow To Ease The Headache!

By Veluppillai Thangavelu –November 16, 2015

Veluppillai Thangavelu

The gruelling election campaign lasting 78 days came to an end on October 19 when Canadians went to the polling stations in troves to exercise their franchise.  The ruling Conservative Party deliberately prolonged the campaign in the hope a longer campaign will be to its advantage. Compared to the other two parties the Conservative had millions of dollars in extra cash in the bank to spend on the elections.

When the election results were flashed over the TV screens as soon as polled closed in Atlantic Canada at 7.30 pm, the Liberal party was painting the electoral map pure red. The Liberal party took a commanding hold in Atlantic Canada capturing all 32 ridings across the region and it set the stage early for a majority government.  High profile Conservative cabinet ministers and veteran New Democratic MPs suffered defeat at the hands of Liberal candidates.

It was a strong message; not only across Atlantic Canada but also the whole country coast to coast. The Liberals won seats after seats in record numbers as results from other provinces poured in.  Before mid-night, the Liberal party has won a convincing majority, taking 184 seats out of 338 seats.  Canadians in every province voted for Liberal candidates, who won in striking victories in greater Toronto and Quebec. In Ontario Liberals won 79 of the province’s 121 seats including all 25 Toronto City ridings and 22 of 24 ridings in the Greater Toronto. The Liberals mostly took back the seats they lost in the 2011 elections. The larger turn out at 68.5 % compared with 61.1 % in 2011 boosted the total number of votes cast. Turnout this year was the highest since 1993, when it was 70.9 %. The following Table 1 shows how the parties fared compared to 2011 election at a glance.

The major difference was the high voter turnout, motivated by the anti Stephen Harper sentiment. There were 3.0 million more votes cast in 2015 over 2011. However, the hardcore conservative base remained intact. Harper only lost 231,905 votes from 2011 and Liberals got 4.1 million more than 2011. So they got all of the additional votes and the strategic swing from the NDP also.     Read More