Canadians shook up the national political landscape May 2 by electing a Conservative majority government, picking New Democrats as the opposition for the first time and shooing separatists out of the House of Commons.
And voters in a British Columbia riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands sent Green Party leader Elizabeth May to Parliament as the first ever-elected Green MP.
Calgary MP Conservative leader Stephen Harper was elected a majority prime minister with 166 seats after two minority governments since 2006. He won government with less than 40 percent of the national vote.
New Democrats under leader Jack Layton dramatically increased their vote and their seat count to 103 led by a surge from one seat to 59 seats in Quebec.
Michael Ignatieff led the Liberals to historic lows of less than 20 percent of the vote and 34 seats as the third party in the Commons.
Meanwhile, the separatist Bloc Québécois declined to just four seats from close to 50 seats and a position as opposition in 1993.
BQ leader Gilles Duceppe lost his Montreal seat. Liberal leader Ignatieff was defeated in his Toronto seat and will soon become the third Liberal leader Harper has sent packing.
The election of a strong Conservative majority means the party will continue its commitment to trade deals and should lead to elimination of the Canadian Wheat Board monopoly, said Alberta farmer and Grain Growers of Canada president Stephen Vandervalk in a May 2 interview.
“This election result should be good news for farmers.”
Canadian Federation of Agriculture president Ron Bonnett said he hopes an outcome of the election will be a less partisan Parliament and more of a willingness to work in farm interests.
Liberal agriculture critic Wayne Easter won a close race in his Prince Edward Island riding for his seventh electoral victory, representing rural issues in a Liberal caucus cut in half.
New Democratic Party agriculture critic Alex Atamanenko won again in his British Columbia riding.
In Saskatoon-Rosetown-Biggar, former National Farmers Union president Nettie Wiebe lost a close race to Conservative Kelly Block.
It was her fourth near-miss in a federal election.
