Canada’s Conservatives score massive election win

OTTAWA, (Reuters) – Canada’s Conservatives stormed to  a decisive victory in yesterday’s federal election, winning 54  percent of the seats in Parliament and securing a stable  four-year term in power after vowing to focus on the economy.
The Conservatives grabbed 167 seats in Canada’s Parliament,  well above the 155 they needed to transform their minority  government into a majority, according to provisional results.  They won about 40 percent of the vote, beating expectations.
The victory, a relief for Canadian financial markets, left  support for the separatist Bloc Quebecois in tatters and the  party’s leader without a seat. Bloc Quebecois advocates  independence for the province of Quebec.
The Liberals, who have ruled Canada for more years than any  other party, were reduced to a dismal third place showing with  their worst ever seat haul.
“What a great night. … Canadians can now turn the page on  the uncertainties and the repeat elections of the past seven  years and focus on building a great future,” Conservative Prime  Minister Stephen Harper told a victory rally in Calgary,  Alberta early on Tuesday morning.
“Our plan (is) to create jobs and growth without raising  your taxes,” he said to loud cheers.
The market’s nightmare scenario of an unstable minority  government headed by the pro-labor New Democratic Party never  came to pass. Harper now has free rein to keep corporate taxes  low in the nation of more than 34 million people and bring in a  string of tax breaks once he balances the budget, projected  within four years.
“It’s going to reinforce quite a bit of stability and  confidence, and Canada is going to continue to be very  attractive for foreign investors,” said Youssef Zohny,  portfolio manager at Van Arbor Asset Management in Vancouver.
“With a Conservative majority, you’re essentially assured a  fairly business-friendly platform, low taxes, continued  investment in energy and potential future energy projects. In  terms of investment it’s definitely got a bullish bias.”
The Conservatives had held two successive minority  governments ahead of Monday. While they led opinion polls from  the start of the five-week campaign, it was not clear they  would convincingly win Canada’s fourth election in seven  years.
But the left-of-center vote split between the New Democrats  and the Liberals, the second biggest party in the previous  Parliament, and the Conservatives emerged as a surprisingly  strong victor with 39.6 percent of the overall vote.
Of the 308 seats in the House of Commons, provisional  results showed the Conservatives with 167 and the New Democrats  with 102. The Liberals were far behind with just 34.
LAYTON HEADS OFFICIAL OPPOSITION
The NDP produced by far its strongest showing ever, giving  genial party leader Jack Layton a role as head of Canada’s  official opposition.
The party had campaigned on a platform of higher corporate  taxes and an end to subsidies for the powerful energy sector  although, like the Conservatives and the Liberals, it also said  it would balance the budget within years.
Its plans for a cap-and-trade system to rein in greenhouse  gas emissions were a negative for energy producers — Canada is  the largest exporter of energy to the United States, itself the  world’s biggest consumer.
“There’s benefit in the stability that comes with a  majority government. I think that’s going to be good for our  industry and for investors,” said David Collyer, president of  the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.
“The NDP has a different view than us on some of the key  policy issues and we’ll have to work with them to see if we can  find some common ground.”
“We have seen tonight, I think, the emergence of a  polarization in Canadian politics,” Liberal leader Michael  Ignatieff said in a sad address to the party faithful.
“We have a government that will pretend to govern from the  center and there’s a risk it will move the country to the  right. We will have an official opposition that will criticize  from the center but possibly move the country to the left.”
He added: “It’s tough to lose like this.”