Harper got a minority again, a bit larger than before. There are a total of 306 seats to be won in the House of Commons.
(Sorry, the columns don't keep their spacing when I save the message/

Party, Elected Seats, Popular Vote
2006
Conservatives 124 36.3 %
Liberals 103 30.27%
Bloc Quebecois 51 10.5%
NDP 29 17.5%

Greens did not get a seat, but got 4.5% of the popular vote. The Independants got 0.6% of the popular vote, and got a seat in the House.

2008
Conservatives 143 37.63%
Liberals 76 26.24%
Bloc Qubecois 50 9.97%
NDP 37 18.2%
Green 0 6.8%


Here is where one long-standing problem comes up - Proportional Representation (PR). It would mean redesigning the voting system so that the popular vote has an actual influence on the results.

For example, the Conservatives' popular vote went up by only 1% - but they got 17 more seats.

We have about 30 million people in Canada; some 960,000 voted Green, that's almost a million - and they don't even get one seat.

This sort of thing has created a lot of voter apathy...apparently voter turnout was at an all-time low. If your vote is less effective than it could be, it's harder to care, I guess.

Look at the math above and see if that makes sense to you. Our Prime Minister's popular vote barely went up, and he's got more seats.

This could make my head hurt.


BTW, to see a list of other political parties in Canada, click here and scroll down:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/elect...alResults.html