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.
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 Qu�b�cois with 51 districts and the labor-aligned New Democratic Party with 29. One independent candidate won.
The Bloc Qu�b�cois 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 Qu�b�cois, 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.
Source: By CLIFFORD KRAUSS, NY Times
