Canadian federal election, 2006 Totally Explained

Everything about Canadian Federal Election 2006 totally explained

The 2006 Canadian federal election (more formally, the 39th General Election) was held on January 23, 2006, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 39th Parliament of Canada. The Conservative Party of Canada won a plurality of seats: 40.3% of seats, or 124 out of 308, up from 99 seats in 2004, and 36.3% of votes: up from 29.6% in the 2004 election. The election resulted in a minority government led by the Conservative Party with Stephen Harper becoming the 22nd Prime Minister of Canada. By proportion of seats, this is Canada's smallest minority government since Confederation.

Cause of the election

This general election elected members for the House of Commons, indirectly determining the prime minister and cabinet, as the government will be formed by the political party or coalition of parties that the governor general determines is best able to command the confidence of the House (usually the one with the most elected members). This unusual winter election was caused by a motion of no confidence passed by the House of Commons on November 28, 2005. The following morning, Prime Minister Paul Martin met Governor General Michaëlle Jean, who agreed to dissolve the minority parliament, issuing a proclamation of the dissolution (Canada Gazette: Proclamation Dissolving Parliament

). The Governor General then issued a proclamation issuing Writs of election (Canada Gazette: Proclamation Issuing Election Writs

), followed by a final proclamation summoning Parliament to meet (Canada Gazette: Proclamation Summoning Parliament to Meet on February 20, 2006

), though this will be superseded by further proclamations as the date for the assembling of Parliament is changed. The campaign was almost eight weeks in length, the longest in two decades, in order to allow for downtime over the Christmas and New Year holidays.
Recent political events, most notably testimony to the Gomery Commission investigating the sponsorship scandal, significantly weakened the Liberals (who, under Martin, had formed the first Liberal minority government since the Trudeau era) by allegations of criminal corruption in the party. The first Gomery report, released November 1, 2005, had found a "culture of entitlement" to exist within the Government. Although the next election wasn't legally required until 2009, the opposition had enough votes to force the dissolution of Parliament earlier. While Prime Minister Martin had committed in April 2005 to dissolve Parliament within a month of the tabling of the second Gomery Report (which was released on schedule on February 1, 2006), all three opposition parties—the Conservatives, Bloc Québécois, and New Democratic Party (NDP) — and three of the four independents decided that the issue at hand was how to correct the Liberal corruption, and the motion of non-confidence passed 171-133.

Results

Harper was reelected in Calgary Southwest, which he's held since 2002, ensuring that he's a seat in the new parliament. The election was held on January 23, 2006. The first polls closed at 07:00 p.m. ET (0000 UTC); Elections Canada started to publish preliminary results on its website at 10:00 p.m. ET as the last polls closed. Shortly after midnight (ET) that night, incumbent Prime Minister Paul Martin conceded defeat, and announced that he'll resign as leader of the Liberal Party. He will continue to sit as a Member of Parliament representing LaSalle—Émard, the Montreal-area riding he's held since 1988.
At 9:30 a.m. on January 24, Martin informed Governor General Michaëlle Jean that he wouldn't form a government and intended to resign as Prime Minister. It was announced a month later that there will be a Liberal leadership convention later in the year, during which Stéphane Dion won the leadership of the Liberal Party. Later that day, at 6:45 p.m., Jean invited Harper to form a government. Martin formally resigned and Harper was formally appointed and sworn in as Prime Minister on February 6.

Overall results

The results show a Conservative minority government with 124 seats in parliament with a Liberal opposition and a strengthened NDP. In his speech following the loss, Martin stated he wouldn't lead the Liberal Party of Canada in another election. Preliminary results indicated that 64.9% of registered voters cast a ballot, a notable increase over 2004's 60.9%.
   The NDP won new seats in British Columbia and Ontario as their overall popular vote increased 2% from 2004. The Bloc managed to win almost as many seats as in 2004 despite losing a significant percentage of the vote. Most of the Conservatives' gains were in Ontario and Quebec as they took a net loss in the west. The popular vote of the Conservatives and Liberals were almost the mirror image of 2004, though the Conservatives were not able to translate this into as many seats as the Liberals did in 2004.
   A judicial recount was automatically scheduled in the Parry Sound—Muskoka riding, where early results showed Conservative Tony Clement only 21 votes ahead of Liberal Andy Mitchell, because the difference of votes cast between the two leading candidates was less than 0.1%. Clement was confirmed as the winner by 28 votes.
   Conservative candidate Jeremy Harrison, narrowly defeated by Liberal Gary Merasty in the Saskatchewan riding of Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River by 72 votes, alleged electoral fraud but decided not to pursue the matter. A judicial recount was ordered in the riding, which certified Gary Merasty the winner by a reduced margin of 68 votes.
    � "% change" refers to change from previous election

   * indicates the party didn't contest the previous election. � See below next table for other notes.

Results by province

Party name			BC	AB	SK	MB	ON	QC	NB	NS	PE	NL	NU	NT	YT	Total
Conservative	Seats:	17	28	12	8	40	10	3	3	-	3	-	-	-	124	Vote:	37.3	65.0	48.9	42.8	35.1	24.6	35.7	29.69	33.4	42.67	29.6	19.8	23.67	36.25	Liberal	Seats:	9	-	2	3	54	13	6	6	4	4	1	-	1	103	Vote:	27.6	15.3	22.4	26.0	39.9	20.7	39.2	37.15	52.5	42.82	39.1	34.9	48.52	30.2	Bloc Québécois	Seats:	51	51	Vote:	42.1	10.5	New Democrat	Seats:	10	-	-	3	12	-	1	2	-	-	-	1	-	29	Vote:	28.6	11.6	24.0	25.4	19.4	7.5	21.9	29.84	9.6	13.58	17.6	42.1	23.85	17.5	Green	Vote:	5.3	6.5	3.2	3.9	4.7	4.0	2.4	2.6	3.9	0.9	5.9	2.1	4.0	4.5
Conservative	Independent / No affiliation	Seats:						1								1	Vote:						0.9								Liberal	0.1	Total seats:		36	28	14	14	106	75	10	11	4	7	1	1	1	308														Bloc Québécois							New Democrat
	Independent / No affiliation

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