Federal Election of Canada 2011, Part 1. Looking back at the 2008 Election

On March 25th 2011, the Canadian Government was defeated by an Non-Confidence vote.
Let look at the last elections.

Party	Seats Elected	Popular Vote	Changed Seats	Changed Popular
Conservatives	143	37.60%	+19	+1.38%
Liberal	77	26.20%	-18	-3.97%
NDP	37	18.20%	+8	+0.70%
Bloc Québécois	49	10.00%	-2	-0.50%
Green	0	6.80%	0	+2.30%
Others	2	1.20%

Results by Ridings

Click the map to enlarge it






Voter Turnout

Alberta ................. 52.9%
British Columbia . 61.0%
Manitoba ............. 56.8%
New Brunswick ... 62.8%
NLF ...................... 48.1%
NWT .................... 48.6%
Nova Scotia .......... 60.1%
Nunavut ............... 49.4%
Ontario ................. 59.1%
PEI ....................... 69.5%
Saskatchewan ...... 59.4%
Quebec .................. 61.1%
Yukon ................... 63.7%
Nationally ............. 64.7%

2008 Elections was the worst voter turn out in Canadian history.

The Governing Party before the election was Conservatives (minority government)
Prime Minister: Stephen Harper

Party Leaders

Name: Stephen Harper
Party: Conservatives
Leader since: 2004
Riding: Calgary Southwest
Elected: Yes
Web-Site




Name: Stéphane Dion
Party: Liberal
Leader since: 2006-2008
Riding: Saint-Laurent—Cartierville
Elected: Yes
Web-Site




Name: Jack Layton
Party: NDP
Leader since: 2003
Riding: Toronto—Danforth
Elected: Yes
Web-Site





Name: Gilles Duceppe
Party: Bloc Québécois
Leader since: 1997
Riding: Laurier—Sainte-Marie
Elected: Yes
Web-Site In French, for English Translate




Name: Elizabeth May
Party: Green
Leader since: 2006
Riding: Central Nova
Elected: No
Web-Site

The Campaign Issues

Arts

The Conservatives cut $45 million to the Arts Funding. This cause criticism from the opposition Leaders and Quebecers. At this time the Conservatives where leading in the polls for Quebec, then lost the support and went to the Bloc Québécois.

Stephen Harper had said that the money was being reallocated to other arts and cultural programs, like the 400^th anniversary of Quebec City and 2010 Vancouver-Whistler Winter Olympic Games.

The Conservative's refusal to have a parliamentary review of their cuts and for a moratorium on the measures until the House of Commons Heritage Committee had a chance to hold hearings on culture and arts funding has most opposition members calling foul.

Both Stéphane Dion and Jack Layton have promised to reverse the cut, with Dion also promising to increase funding to Canada Council for the Arts to $360 million, while Layton also promised to bring income averaging for artists to the national level and providing an annual tax exemption of $20,000 for income earned by copyright and residuals, stating that "one of the key things we must do, before we start giving $50-billion tax giveaways to banks and oil companies, is to protect and promote the arts" and "stable, sure and appropriate funding" for CBC/Radio-Canada while also protecting Telefilm Canada and the Canadian Television Fund.

Alleged Cadman bribe attempt

In early 2008 it was alleged that Independent MP Chuck Cadman of Surrey North, who was terminally ill with cancer at the time, had been offered a half-million life insurance policy in exchange for voting against the proposed Liberal budget in May 2005, which he turned down. Under section 119 of the Criminal Code of Canada, it is illegal to bribe an MP. Accordingly, Opposition Liberal party Intergovernmental Affairs critic Dominic LeBlanc asked the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in February 2008 to investigate this allegation, that the Conservatives had offered Mr. Cadman a million-dollar life insurance policy in exchange for his support on the budget vote. In May 2008, the RCMP announced that there was not enough evidence to support charges. Cadman died in July. The following month, Harper stated in a court deposition that he personally authorized an offer made to Cadman in 2005. There is currently an ongoing legal battle between the Liberals and the Conservatives over the matter.

On September 24, while campaigning in Surrey North, Stephen Harper's campaign team barred reporters from talking with the local Conservative candidate, Dona Cadman, who is Chuck Cadman's widow. The campaign team called in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), and ordered them to "Keep [the reporters] out" while Cadman was taken away by staff. Harper spokesman Kory Teneycke later stated that he had not seen the incident, but the local candidates did not need to be interviewed, that "Local candidates' priority is campaigning in their local ridings, and not talking to the national media", and that it should be enough that they hold daily news conferences with the party's most prominent members.

The incident has reminded people of Conservative tactics during the 2006 election, where attempts by the media to speak with local candidates were stopped by campaign personnel, especially the Harold Albrecht incident, where campaign officials forced Albrecht to stay in a restaurant kitchen when journalists attempted to interview him.

The Conservatives chose former FBI agent Bruce Koenig to analyze a tape of reporter Tom Zytaruk interviewing Harper on the Cadman bribe attempt. The tape was a key piece of evidence in the ongoing legal battle. On October 10, Keonig announced that the tape had not been altered in any way, contrary to the claims by Stephen Harper that it had been altered

Listeriosis outbreak

The Minister of Agriculture Gerry Ritz, who has already been criticized by Canada's food scientists for his handling of the 2008 listeriosis outbreak,[83] has also been criticized for making inappropriate comments, further angering the families of those affected. Ritz had joked about the outbreak while he was on a conference call with scientists and political staffers on August 30, saying the political fallout from the outbreak was "like a death by a thousand cuts, or should I say cold cuts". In addition, when he was informed of a listeriosis-related death in Prince Edward Island, he quipped "Please tell me it's [Liberal agriculture critic] Wayne Easter." Despite calls for Ritz's resignation from the other parties and the public, Stephen Harper has supported Ritz and rebuffed calls for his resignation.

The Public Service Alliance of Canada revealed to the media that the Conservative party plans to cut federal funding to meat inspection programs by $3 million, effectively ending their operation in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and British Columbia.

Cities and infrastructure

Toronto Mayor David Miller has spoken out that the parties need to focus more on cities and their infrastructure, stating that 8 out of 10 Canadians live in cities, and that so far only the Green party has revealed a platform on the issue, with a national transit strategy and plans to give cities a permanent revenue source to help fix a growing infrastructure backlog. Miller stated he will not endorse a specific party, but urges people to choose a party that will "help cities thrive". He disagrees with Stephen Harper's opinion that "cities are not of national importance".

On September 18, Stéphane Dion pledged to spend more than $70 billion over the next 10 years to improve Canada's infrastructure if elected, and budget surpluses that exceed a $3-billion contingency fund to infrastructure projects, particularly those with a green focus, calling Canada's cities and towns "the engines of our economy". Stephen Harper immediately lashed out at the spending proposal, saying Dion was "promising money no government could afford" and that the Conservative's infrastructure plans "are modest and affordable within the four-year budget we've published".

On September 23, Montreal and Toronto mayors Gérald Tremblay and David Miller laid out their demands for urban municipalities, describing cities' current financial problems as a national issue, saying that cities have become the country's economic, social and cultural development engines and need appropriate support, and that they need better "fiscal tools" to continue their role as Canada's economic engines or the country will suffer. They listed Homelessness, traffic gridlock, crowded buses and overstretched police departments as just a few of the symptoms, that "These problems are too big and too important to be solved on the backs of property taxpayers" and that "in order to remain competitive, transport goods efficiently and attract new talent, our cities require quality infrastructure, affordable housing and first-rate recreational and cultural facilities". Jean Perrault, president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and mayor of Sherbrooke, Quebec, has stated that things like the Federal Gas Tax Fund were an important federal commitment, but that more is needed to tackle cities' overwhelming infrastructure needs.

On September 29, Layton announced plans to direct one cent per litre of the gas tax, approximately $400 million a year, into transit projects across the country, and direct $350 million from the sale of carbon permits to big polluters, saying that "the major polluters would be the ones paying to make transit greener, not you and your families", and that "fighting climate change requires investing in transit, and that's what our plan does"

Environment

Shortly after the election was called, Harper was criticized for using a four-vehicle motorcade that included a van and SUV to travel the 395 m (1,296 ft) across the street from the door of 24 Sussex Drive to the door of Rideau Hall to dissolve parliament. In return, the Conservatives criticized the Liberal party's decision to use a 29-year-old Boeing 737-200 for campaigning, saying that the older airplane's poor fuel efficiency demonstrates hypocrisy on environmental matters. Daniel Lauzon, a spokesperson for the Liberals, denied their airplane was substantially less efficient than the Conservatives' Airbus A319.

The Tories have been previously criticized for backing out of Canada's commitments under the Kyoto Protocol. Their new plan requires industries to reduce the rate at which they generate greenhouse gases, with a goal of reducing overall emissions by 45 to 65 percent by 2050. The plan has been criticized by groups such as the Sierra Club, who called it "completely inadequate". Criticism has focused on the use of "intensity-based" targets, for which emission reductions are relative to overall production, so overall emissions could potentially increase if production also increases. This is in contrast to a "hard cap" on emissions, for which the overall amount cannot increase. The Conservatives' plan includes a hard cap to begin in 2020 or 2025, while environmental groups have advocated for an immediate hard cap.

The Liberals have developed a "Green Shift" plan, creating a carbon tax that will be coupled with reductions to income tax rates. The proposal was to tax greenhouse gas emissions, starting at $10 (Canadian) per ton of CO2 and reaching $40 (Canadian) per ton within four years. The plan would engage in revenue recycling by matching the tax with reductions in the income tax. Criticism of the Green Shift plan has focused on its economic effects, with the Conservatives predicting it would cause a "big recession". When pressed by reporters to provide evidence of this impact, Harper "wasn't able to cite a study that specifically modelled the impact of the Liberal Green Shift plan", instead citing an older economic model about the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol.

One trucking association claimed the Liberal carbon tax plan could put up to 10,000 jobs in jeopardy in Moncton alone. Environmental activist David Suzuki has come out in support of Dion's plan, saying "To oppose [the carbon tax plan], it's just nonsense. It's certainly the way we got to go" and giving an interview explaining why it is the most effective way to solve the environmental crisis.

The NDP's plan for the environment has focused on emissions trading, claiming their system will decrease greenhouse emissions by 80% by 2050. The plan includes a series of financial incentives to retrofit public transit systems and transition the economy to be "green-collar". The plan would also halt new tar sands development until emissions have been capped. Layton has also criticized the Liberal carbon tax plan, stating it taxes families instead of polluters.


Potential fall of government

On December 1, 2008, as the result of opposition dissatisfaction with the government's economic update (which failed to include stimulus measures to help the Canadian economy contend with the global crisis and included a 'poison pill' regarding the cessation of public party financing), the leaders of the Liberal Party, New Democratic Party, and Bloc Québécois announced they had reached an agreement to approach the governor general for the purpose of forming a coalition government. Combined, the three opposition parties constitute a majority of seats in the House of Commons. Parliament was due to vote on a no-confidence motion on December 8; if successful, the Liberals and NDP would have formally formed the coalition for 30 months, while the BQ pledged to support it for at least 18 months. Liberal leader Stéphane Dion would have become prime minister until the selection of his successor at the Liberal leadership convention in May 2009, and a coalition cabinet would have comprised 18 Liberal members (including a finance minister) and 6 NDP members. Governor General Michaëlle Jean had cut short a state visit to Europe "in light of the current political situation in Canada." On December 4, 2008, Jean granted Harper's request to prorogue Parliament until January 26, 2009, thereby staving off the prospect of an imminent change in government.