Canadian Voters Oust
Incumbent
for Conservative
By CLIFFORD KRAUSS,
NYTimes on the Web, January 24, 2006
TORONTO, Jan. 23 -- Stephen
Harper and his Conservative Party defeated the long entrenched Liberal Party in
Canadian elections on Monday. A Conservative victory is a striking turn in
the country's politics and is likely to improve Canada's strained relations with
the Bush administration.
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J.P. Moczulski/Reuters
Conservative Party of Canada leader and Prime Minister-Elect Stephen
Harper and his family celebrate in Calgary January 23, 2006.
The Conservatives will form the next government after defeating Paul
Martin's Liberal Party in Canada's federal election. |
Prime Minister Paul Martin had hoped
to build on a string of four consecutive Liberal national election victories in
the past 13 years, but his campaign was damaged by two years of investigations
into party scandals that spurred a backlash and a desire for change.
Mr. Martin tried to cut into Mr. Harper's lead in the final days with a campaign
of rancorous advertising, as opinion polls indicated that many urban voters were
wary of allowing the country to veer into uncharted ideological waters.
But in the end, Mr. Harper seemed to reassure the public that he had evolved
into a centrist in recent years and that his government would emphasize cutting
taxes and cleaning up corruption, rather than social issues like abortion and
gay rights.
In a concession speech, Mr. Martin announced that he would leave the party
leadership before the next national election. "I telephoned Stephen Harper
and congratulated him on being chosen by the people of Canada," he said.
"We differ on many things, but we all share the belief of the potential and the
promise of Canada and the desire of our country to succeed."
Preliminary data showed that the Conservatives won more than 36 percent of the
popular vote, and fell short of a majority in the 308-seat House of Commons.
Incomplete results showed the Conservatives leading in 125 districts to 102 for
the Liberals, followed by the Bloc Québécois with 51 districts and the
labor-aligned New Democratic Party with 29. One independent candidate won.
The Bloc Québécois fell well short of its goal of winning a symbolically
important majority in Quebec because of the Conservative gains. The
Conservatives showed strength across the country, but particularly in rural and
suburban areas.
Mr. Harper, 46, is a free-market economist who expressed strong support for
Washington at the time of the American-led invasion of Iraq and shares the Bush
administration's skepticism of the Kyoto climate control protocol, which Canada
has signed and ratified. His party was formed three years ago as a
coalition of two conservative parties.
Such positions are in sharp contrast with those of Prime Minister Martin, who
rejected cooperation with President Bush's missile defense program, ratcheted up
criticism of American trade policies and caustically criticized Washington
during the campaign for not supporting the Kyoto protocol.
Mr. Harper did not emphasize his closeness to the Bush administration during the
campaign, and there was no indication that Canadians had suddenly embraced
American foreign policy. Mr. Harper pointedly promised not to send
Canadian troops to Iraq, and said he would be a tough bargainer in trade talks
with the United States.
But he did promise $5 billion in new military spending, which would go to
forming a new airborne battalion and buying large transport aircraft to airlift
troops and supplies during world crises.
By falling far short of winning a clear majority in the House of Commons, Mr.
Harper may lead a shaky government and could face another national election
within two years.
He will probably have to compromise with lawmakers from three left-of-center
parties to pass legislation and remain in power. But in foreign policy the
prime minister has broad powers, and he is expected to reach out quickly to
Washington to improve a relationship that has been declining since the invasion
of Iraq in 2003, which Canada opposed.
"It is in the DNA of this Harper government to improve the relationship with
Washington," Janice Stein, director of the Munk Center for International Studies
at the University of Toronto, said before the vote was counted."
In domestic affairs, Mr. Harper promised to provide allowances to families with
children under age 6 to help with child care, to introduce mandatory prison
sentences for serious drug trafficking and gun crimes, to reduce the national
sales tax and to provide tax breaks for retirees.
Mr. Martin promised a vast government-financed child care program, tax cuts for
the middle class and a ban on handguns, and said he was committed to cleaning up
pollution in the Great Lakes. He emphasized the period of prosperity and
social peace under the recent Liberal governments.
But as Mr. Martin fell behind in the opinion polls, his campaign came to rely on
attack advertisements that were unusually caustic for Canada. He tried to
depict Mr. Harper as a fanatical American-style conservative and an ally of
President Bush, who is unpopular in Canada. The campaign lasted two
months, unusually long for Canada, because of holidays. But a turning
point came on Boxing Day, the day after Christmas, during a break in the
campaigning, when an innocent 15-year-old girl and six others were wounded in a
shootout between two gangs in downtown Toronto.
That unusual appearance of public lawlessness was followed by hints of
lawlessness within the government. On Dec. 28, the federal police
announced that they were opening a criminal investigation of what appeared to be
a flurry of insider trading, set off by what some suspect were leaks from the
Finance Ministry about changes in taxes on dividends and income trusts.
" The biggest surprise of the campaign was the breakthrough Mr. Harper made in
Quebec, where the Conservatives have been weak for a generation. By taking
votes from the Bloc Québécois, he dealt a blow to a sovereignty movement that
had been rebounding on a wave of anger over Liberal scandals.
"That there is a room for a new federalist voice in Quebec is a Rubicon," said
Antonia Maioni, a political scientist at McGill University.
(Emphasis Added)
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