Canadian 2006 Election

The 2006 Canadian Election Campaign

Political Science 100: 13 Ð'- Dr. Clancy

Vladimir Kozousek: 200506730

The 39th Canadian General Election was held on January 23, 2006 with the purpose to select members to the House of Commons. In Canada when one thinks of political parties, five major parties come to mind. The first two and of course the most popular parties include the Conservative Party and the Liberal Party, trailing by the NDP (The New Democratic Party), Bloc Quebecois (seperationists) and than by the independent Green Party.

In the last election held in 2004 the Liberal Party won by a landslide of 36.7 percent, totaling 135 seats. With there rivals the Conservative Party only controlling 29.6 percent, which equals out to 99 seats. With the Liberals controlling such a large number of seats it was evident that they have effectively placed themselves as the majority party in the House of Commons with Paul Martin as their leader and effectively the new leader (Prime Minister) of Canada. The Bloc Quebecois seizing 54 seats in the house with a national interest of just 12 percent, though within it's founding province, of course Quebec, they have managed to acquire almost half of the provincial vote with a staggering 48.9 percent. The NDP having some interest vested by Canadian Citizens controlling 16 percent of the national vote giving them 19 seats. Last but not least the newly formed independent party, the Green Party controls 4 percent nation wide.

With the 2004 elections in mind, the end results of the 2006 elections seemed to have come with quite a surprise in the end.

Party (Independent). In 2004 these are the percentages acquired nationally by each party. Liberal wins with a whopping 135 seats and controlling 36.7% where as the conservative trail with only 99 seats and controlling 29.6% of the votes. NDP may not be in the top two but they are beginning to show a large amount of support nation wide with 19 seats in office and controlling just shy of 16%. The Bloc controls 54 seats in office where as they made up 48.9% of the voters in Quebec and 12% nationally. The Green party shows some interest nation wide with 4% of the vote. These same parties are those striving for domination in 2006. The greed and prevalence of the Canadian Political Party and its strategies are what allowed those parties to strive the way the have in the past 2 years.

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.

The Conservative Party of Canada won a plurality of seats: 40.3% of seats, or 124 out of 308, up 25 seats from 99 in 2004, and 36.3% of votes: up 6.7% 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; this is Canada's smallest minority government