With nearly all the returns in, Canada's election agency reported on its Web site that the Conservatives had won or was leading in races for 143 of Parliament's 308 seats, an improvement over the 127 seats the party had in the previous Parliament.
The Conservative Party needed to win 155 seats to govern on its own.
The Liberal Party, long Canada's top party, suffered a severe drubbing, dropping to 76 seats from 95 in the previous Parliament, according to the election agency. Bloc Quebecois won 50 seats, the New Democrats 37 and independent candidates 2.
More from Canada's National Post:
Stephen Harper's Conservatives returned to power with a stronger, broadly based minority, facing a weakened opposition leader and ready to pursue an agenda that is likely to be aimed first and foremost at addressing the fallout in Canada from the economic storm sweeping the globe.
The results of Tuesday's election deprived Mr. Harper of the majority he so desperately wanted when he killed his own minority government on Sept. 7 and showed Canadian voters wanted to keep the Conservatives on a leash during what the Tory leader acknowledged would be uncertain economic times ahead.
The Conservatives hope their tally and their wins in all regions of the country will give them enough power in the Commons to press ahead with their economic agenda, which, among other things, includes $50-billion in corporate tax cuts and possibly big buck solutions to easing the credit crunch. The party also promised in the campaign to enact a tougher crime package aimed at young offenders in particular.
"Tonight Canadians voted to move our country forward, and they have done so with confidence," Mr. Harper told supporters at his Calgary headquarters.
"As the result of our campaign, our party is bigger, our support base is broader and more Canadians are finding a home in the Conservative Party of Canada."
This happened because the Conservative party in Canada stuck to its guns and its values instead of trying to build the big tent. However, there are some other lessons perhaps the GOP can learn from Canada:
Canadian libertarians tell me that Harper and his Tories have serious flaws, and I don't doubt it. But the Conservatives north of the border sure look a lot better to me than either American party does right now. Their policies are probably more pro-market than those of Bush's 'big government conservative' GOP. . . . In addition, the Canadian Conservatives don't have nearly as much of a social conservative/religious right streak as the Republicans do. And libertarians have to give at least a little love to a prime minister who took a lot of flak for cutting government subsidies to the arts - a goal the Republicans weren't able to achieve with their campaign against the NEA.
Interesting observations....however, I think the values issue is one that we should stick to. The key thing is to stick to core principles, instead of doing what the party did in the late 1990s, when they got greedy and decided to build the big tent and who cares if the person has Republican values as long as they can win and have an R next to their name. See, that is what has gotten us to this point, not standing on principles. The Canadian Conservatives won based on the merits of the argument, not pandering. That is the main lesson to learn.
