Results of the 40th Canadian federal election
2008 Canadian federal election Turnout 58.8% This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Analysis of results by riding, together with comparisons from previous election and at dissolution.
The 40th Canadian federal election was held on October 14, 2008.
The Conservative Party of Canada , led by Stephen Harper , won a minority government . The Conservatives won 143 seats. The Liberal Party of Canada , won 77 seats. The separatist Bloc Québécois won 49 seats and the social-democratic New Democratic Party won 37. Two independent candidates won a seat, one each in Nova Scotia and Quebec.
Vote Total [ edit ] Rendition of party representation in the 40th Canadian parliament decided by this election. Conservatives (143)
Liberals (77)
Bloc Québécois (49)
New Democrats (37)
Independent (2)
National Results[1] Party Seats Votes % Conservative 143 5,209,069 37.65 Liberal 77 3,633,185 26.26 Bloc Québécois 49 1,379,991 9.98 New Democratic 37 2,515,288 18.18 Independent 2 89,387 0.65 Green 0 937,613 6.78 Christian Heritage 0 26,475 0.191 Marxist–Leninist 0 8,565 0.062 Libertarian 0 7,300 0.053 Progressive Canadian 0 5,860 0.042 No Affiliation 0 5,457 0.039 Communist 0 3,572 0.026 Canadian Action 0 3,455 0.025 Marijuana 0 2,298 0.0166 Rhinoceros 0 2,122 0.0153 Newfoundland and Labrador First 0 1,713 0.0124 First Peoples National 0 1,611 0.0116 Animal Alliance 0 527 0.0038 Work Less 0 425 0.0031 Western Block 0 195 0.00141 People's Political Power 0 186 0.00134 Total 13,834,294 100.00%
Vote and seat summaries [ edit ] Popular vote Conservative
37.6% Liberal
26.2% NDP
18.2% Bloc Québécois
10% Green
6.8% Others
1.2%
Seat totals Conservative
46.43% Liberal
25% Bloc Québécois
15.9% NDP
12% Independents
0.65%
Gains and losses [ edit ] A visual representation of the seat changes occurring from 2006 to 2008. Elections to the 40th Parliament of Canada – seats won/lost by party, 2006–2008 Party 2006 Gain from (loss to) 2008 Con Lib BQ NDP Ind Conservative 124 22 (2) 1 (1) 2 (2) (1) 143 Liberal 103 2 (22) 2 1 (9) 77 Bloc Québécois 51 1 (1) (2) 49 New Democratic 29 2 (2) 9 (1) 37 Independent 1 1 2 Total 308 6 (25) 31 (5) 3 (1) 3 (11) – (1) 308
The following seats changed allegiance from the 2006 election:
Conservative to Liberal Conservative to BQ Conservative to NDP Conservative to Independent Liberal to Conservative Liberal to NDP BQ to Conseervative BQ to Liberal NDP to Conservative NDP to Liberal
Results by electoral district [ edit ] Results by province [ edit ] Party name BC AB SK MB ON QC NB NS PE NL NU NT YT Total Conservative Seats: 22 27 13 9 51 10 6 3 1 0 1 - - 143 Vote: 44.4 64.6 53.7 48.8 39.2 21.7 39.4 26.1 36.2 16.5 34.8 37.6 32.8 37.6 Liberal Seats: 5 - 1 1 38 14 3 5 3 6 - - 1 77 Vote: 19.3 11.4 14.9 19.1 33.8 23.7 32.4 29.8 47.7 46.6 34.8 13.6 45.3 26.2 Bloc Québécois Seats: 49 49 Vote: 38.1 10.0 New Democrat Seats: 9 1 - 4 17 1 1 2 - 1 - 1 - 37 Vote: 25.0 12.7 25.6 24.0 18.2 12.2 21.9 28.9 9.8 33.9 27.6 41.5 9.0 18.2 Green Vote: 9.4 8.8 5.6 6.8 8.0 3.5 6.2 8.0 4.7 1.7 8.4 5.5 13.0 6.8 Independent / No affiliation Seats: 1 1 2 Vote: 0.6 6.6; 0.7 Total seats: 36 28 14 14 106 75 10 11 4 7 1 1 1 308
Atlantic provinces [ edit ] The Liberals won 17 seats in the Atlantic Provinces , the Conservatives ten, the NDP four, and Independent one. This is a swing of one seat from the Liberals to each of the other parties.
Newfoundland and Labrador [ edit ] Buoyed by the so-called "ABC Campaign", spearheaded by popular Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams , the Liberals won six seats and the NDP one. The Avalon and St. John's South—Mount Pearl seats changed hands from the Tories to the Liberals. The St. John's East seat changed from the Tories to NDP, as Norman Doyle retired. The change in Avalon was a crushing blow as the incumbent Fabian Manning was soundly defeated by the Liberals' Scott Andrews .
Prince Edward Island [ edit ] The three Liberal incumbents have been re-elected. In the fourth riding, Egmont , incumbent Liberal Joe McGuire retired, and the seat went to the Tories.
Nova Scotia [ edit ] All incumbents were re-elected, except in Halifax where the retiring Alexa McDonough was replaced by another New Democrat, Megan Leslie , and in West Nova the incumbent Liberal Robert Thibault was defeated by Tory Greg Kerr . Elizabeth May of the Green Party was defeated in the riding of Central Nova , which was a battle between her and incumbent cabinet minister Peter MacKay .
New Brunswick [ edit ] The Liberal Green Shift was most unpopular in New Brunswick. Three ridings previously held by the Liberals switched to the Tories; Fredericton , Miramichi , and Saint John . In the other seven ridings the incumbent was re-elected.
The Bloc Québécois played obstruction in preventing the Conservatives from achieving a majority. Fifteen battleground ridings were in Quebec, with only three changing hands. The BQ lost the riding of Papineau to the Liberals, but gained the riding of Louis-Hébert from the Tories. A recent recount saw the Liberals take the riding of Brossard—La Prairie from the BQ, slightly strengthening their position.[3]
Results in Quebec Party Seats Votes % +/- Bloc Québécois 49 1,379,565 38.1 Liberal 14 859,634 23.7 Conservative 10 784,560 21.7 New Democratic 1 441,136 12.2 Green 0 126,299 3.5 Independent 1 23,106 0.6 Marxist–Leninist 0 2,753 0.1 neorhino.ca 0 2,263 0.0 – Communist 0 393 0.0 Christian Heritage 0 265 0.0 Marijuana 0 183 0.0 Total 3,620,362 100%
Ontario [ edit ] Twenty battleground ridings were in Ontario alone, and the Conservatives took the ridings of Brant , Oakville , Huron—Bruce and Halton from the Liberals, where the NDP took Thunder Bay—Superior North , Thunder Bay—Rainy River , Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing , Sudbury and Nickel Belt from the Liberals. The Liberals themselves lost 16 seats in Ontario.
Results in Ontario (99.99% of polls) Party Seats Votes % +/- Conservative 51 2,019,362 39.2 +4.1 Liberal 38 1,741,200 33.8 -6.1 New Democratic 17 938,400 18.2 +1.2 Green 0 411,444 8.0 +3.4 Independent 0 13,029 0.3 +0.14 Christian Heritage 0 12,907 0.3 Progressive Canadian 0 4,911 0.1 Marxist–Leninist 0 3,556 0.1 Libertarian 0 3,212 0.1 Communist 0 1,508 0.0 Marijuana 0 1,448 0.0 Canadian Action 0 1,165 0.0 First Peoples National 0 650 0.0 Animal Alliance 0 529 0.0 Total 5,153,321 100.0
Prairie provinces [ edit ] Manitoba [ edit ] Saskatchewan [ edit ] All seats were retained by their incumbent parties. The closest race was Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar . There, the incumbent Carol Skelton did not seek reelection, giving the NDP high hopes that well-known farmers' activist Nettie Wiebe might re-establish a federal NDP presence in Parliament from the province. The seat was retained by Conservative Kelly Block in a close two-way race to keep the NDP shut out in Saskatchewan - despite the fact that their proportion of the popular vote there was in fact higher than any other province outside Atlantic Canada .
Alberta [ edit ] Arguably the Conservatives' power base, Alberta's Tory incumbents were all re-elected except for the riding of Edmonton—Strathcona , which the NDP narrowly took that riding with 442 votes.
Results in Alberta Party Seats Second Third Fourth Fifth Sixth Seventh Votes % +/- Conservative 27 1 820,855 64.6 New Democratic 1 14 7 6 161,409 12.7 Liberal 8 9 11 144,364 11.4 Green 4 11 11 2 111,505 8.8 Independent 1 4 1 19,995 1.6 No affiliation 1 4,837 0.4 Christian Heritage 4 1 2 3,434 0.3 Libertarian 3 1 1,184 0.1 Canadian Action 2 1 1,051 0.1 Marxist–Leninist 2 3 907 0.1 Communist 2 509 0.0 First Peoples National 1 244 0.0 Total 1,270,294 100.0
British Columbia [ edit ] The Conservatives regained the seats lost in the 2006 election and held on to seven of the ten battleground ridings. They took the ridings of West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country from the Greens and Richmond from the Liberals.
Results in British Columbia Party Seats Votes % +/- Conservative 22 796,757 44.4 New Democratic 9 467,335 26.1 Liberal 5 346,795 19.3 Green 0 168,723 9.4 Christian Heritage 0 3,378 0.2 Independent 0 3,123 0.0 Libertarian 0 2,912 0.2 Marxist–Leninist 0 1,355 0.0 Communist 0 835 0.0 Canadian Action 0 759 0.0 Progressive Canadian 0 425 0.0 Work Less 0 423 0.0 Marijuana 0 358 0.0 Western Block 0 195 0.0 Total 1,793,373 100%
Territories [ edit ] Liberal candidate in the Yukon and the NDP candidate in Western Arctic (the Northwest Territories ) won re-election.
However, in Nunavut the Liberal candidate Kirt Ejesiak was defeated by Conservative Leona Aglukkaq to give the modern Conservatives their first elected member from the territories.
Incumbent MPs defeated [ edit ] This section
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Conservative gains [ edit ] Omar Alghabra , incumbent Liberal MP for Mississauga—Erindale was defeated by Conservative candidate Bob Dechert . Catherine Bell , incumbent New Democrat MP for Vancouver Island North was defeated by Conservative candidate John Duncan . Bonnie Brown , incumbent Liberal MP for Oakville was defeated by Conservative candidate Terence Young . Charles Hubbard , incumbent Liberal MP for Mirmachi was defeated by Conservative candidate Tilly O'Neill-Gordon . Susan Kadis , incumbent Liberal MP for Thornhill was defeated by Conservative Candidate Peter Kent . Karen Redman , incumbent Liberal MP for Kitchener Centre was defeated by Conservative candidate Stephen Woodworth .[4] Lloyd St. Amand , incumbent Liberal MP for Brant was defeated by Conservative Candidate Phil McColeman . Andrew Telegdi , incumbent Liberal MP for Kitchener—Waterloo was defeated by Conservative candidate Peter Braid by 73 votes. The automatic recount on October 17, 2008 found that Braid won by only 17 votes.[5] Lui Temelkovski , incumbent Liberal MP for Oak Ridges—Markham was defeated by Conservative Candidate Paul Calandra . Garth Turner , incumbent Liberal MP for Halton was defeated by Conservative candidate Lisa Raitt . Paul Zed , incumbent Liberal MP for Saint John was defeated by Conservative candidate Rodney Weston . Blair Wilson , incumbent Green MP for West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country was defeated by Conservative candidate John Weston Raymond Chan , incumbent Liberal MP for Richmond was defeated by Conservative candidate Alice Wong . Liberal gains [ edit ] NDP gains [ edit ] Bloc Québécois gains [ edit ] Open seat gains [ edit ] Conservatives [ edit ] Liberals [ edit ] New Democrats [ edit ] Defeated cabinet ministers and party leaders [ edit ] Popular vote by province [ edit ] Party Alberta British Columbia Manitoba New Brunswick Newfoundland and Labrador Northwest Territories Nova Scotia Nunavut Ontario Prince Edward Island Quebec Saskatchewan Yukon Total Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes % Conservative 820,855 64.6% 796,757 44.4% 228,051 48.8% 145,132 39.4% 32,304 16.5% 5,146 37,6% 113,799 26.1% 2,806 34.8% 2,019,362 39.2% 26,877 36.2% 784,560 21.7% 224,927 53.7% 4,758 32.8% 5,205,334 37.6% Liberal 144,364 11.4% 346,795 19.3% 89,313 19.1% 119,197 32.4% 91,084 46.6% 1,858 13.6% 139,038 29.8% 2,359 29.2% 1,741,200 33.8% 35,372 47.7% 859,634 23.7% 62,209 14.9% 6,567 45.3% 3,629,990 26.2% Bloc Québécois n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 1,379,565 38.1% n/a n/a n/a n/a 1,379,565 10.0% New Democratic 161,409 12.7% 467,335 26.1% 112,247 24.0% 80,525 21.9% 66,171 33.9% 5,669 41.5% 126,127 28.9% 2,228 27.6% 938,400 18.2% 7,233 9.8% 441,136 12.2% 107,289 25.6% 1,306 9.0% 2,517,075 18.2% Green 111,505 8.8% 168,723 9.4% 31,723 6.8% 22,683 6.2% 3,274 1,7% 752 5.5% 35,022 8.0% 675 8.4% 411,444 8.0% 3,488 4.7% 126,299 3.5% 23,279 5.6% 1,880 13.0% 940,747 6.8% Independents and no affiliation 19,995 1.6% 2,707 0.2% 575 0.1% n/a n/a 179 0.1% n/a n/a 28,698 6.6% n/a n/a 13,029 0.3% 1,101 1.5% 23,106 0.6% 134 0.0% n/a n/a 89,524 0.7% Christian Heritage 3,434 0.3% 3,378 0.2% 4,189 0.9% n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 1,946 0.5% n/a n/a 12,907 0.3% 124 0.2% 265 0.0% 0.1% 479 n/a n/a 26,722 0.2% Marxist–Leninist 907 0.1% 1,355 0.1% n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 182 0.0% n/a n/a 3,556 0.1% n/a n/a 2753 0.1% n/a n/a n/a n/a 8,753 0.1% Libertarian 1,184 0.1% 2,912 0.2% n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 3,212 0.1% n/a n/a n/a n/a 74 0.0% n/a n/a 7,382 0.1% Progressive Canadian n/a n/a 425 0.0% n/a n/a n/a n/a 584 0.3% n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 4,911 0.1% n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 5,920 0.0% Communist 509 0.0% 835 0.1% 394 0.1% n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 1.508 0.0% n/a n/a 393 0.0% n/a n/a n/a n/a 3,639 0.0% Canadian Action 1,051 0.1% 759 0.0% n/a n/a 168 0.1% n/a n/a n/a n/a 196 0.0% n/a n/a 1,165 0.0% n/a n/a n/a n/a 169 0.0% n/a n/a 3,508 0.0% Marijuana n/a n/a 358 0.0% n/a n/a 330 0.1% n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 1,448 0.0% n/a n/a 183 0.0% n/a n/a n/a n/a 2,319 0.0% neorhino.ca n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 2,263 0.1% n/a n/a n/a n/a 2,263 0.0% Newfoundland and Labrador First n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 1,801 0.9% n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 1,801 0.0% First Peoples National n/a n/a n/a n/a 212 0.1% n/a n/a n/a n/a 252 1.8% n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 282 0.1% n/a n/a 1,640 0.0% Animal Alliance n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 529 0.0% n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 529 0.0% Work Less n/a n/a 423 0.0% n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 423 0.0% Western Block n/a n/a 195 0.0% n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 195 0.0% People's Political Power n/a n/a n/a n/a 185 0.0% n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 185 0.0% Total 1,270,294 - 1,793,373 - 466,889 - 368,035 - 195,397 - 13,677 - 43,008 - 8,068 - 5,153,321 - 74,195 - 3,620,362 - 418,842 - 14,511 - 13,832,972 - Sources: Elections Canada
Voter turnout [ edit ] Voter turnout was the lowest in Canadian election history, as 59.1% of the electorate cast a ballot.[6] All federally funded parties except for the Greens attracted fewer total votes than in 2006; the Greens received nearly 280,000 more votes this election. The Conservatives lost 167,494 votes, the Liberals 850,000, the Bloc 200,000 and the NDP 70,000.
See also [ edit ] References [ edit ] External links [ edit ]