Canadian Federal Election, 2015 (BobSmit)

Next Election The 2015 Canadian Federal Election was held on August 20th, 2015 after Stephen Harper asked Governor General David Johnston to dissolve parliament on June 28th. Johnston planned this so that the election would be immediately preceded by a fall sitting of the House, allowing for a new government to form as quickly as possible.

Parties
The Five Major Parties Contesting the Election Were:

Conservative Party- Led By Prime Minister Stephen Harper, a broad group of politicians that sit between the centre-right and the right wing of the Canadian political spectrum.

The New Democratic Party- Led by Quebecer Thomas Mulcair, the traditionally socialist NDP have more recently morphed into a more centre-left party.

Liberal Party- Led by Justin Trudeau, son of former Prime Minster Pierre Trudeau. A centrist party with a tendency to be socially liberal and slightly fiscally conservative.

Bloc Quebecois- Led by Danielle Paille, this centre-left party advocates for the province of Quebec to separate. Wiped out in 2011, they are trying to make a comeback.

Green Party- Led by Elizabeth May, they are a centre-left environmentalist party that currently hold one seat.

Results
The Conservatives won the most seats in the House of Commons, taking 152, with strong showings in Alberta, the BC Interior, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, and some parts of rural Southern Ontario. The Liberals more then regained their loses from 2011, sweeping major cities like Montreal, Winnipeg, Ottawa, and most importantly Toronto and it's suburbs, and area rich in seats and potential Liberal votes. The NDP was severely weakened, and they lost almost all of their urban and suburban seats in Quebec, most of which were picked up by the Liberals. Thomas Mulcair lost his seat, Outremont, to Liberal veteran Martin Cauchon. The only areas they were able to maintain were in rural Quebec and small cities eastern cities like Halifax and St. Johns. The blow was softened by moderate gains in Saskatchewan and BC. The Bloc regained seats in Lac St. Jean, Quebec City and lower income areas of Montreal, including Daniel Paille's seat, Laurier. The Greens gained one seat, Victoria, which was won by provincial MLA for Oak Bay-Gordon Head, Andrew Weaver. Independent Marie Mourani held her seat, Ahuntsic.

With early results showing massive losses, Mulcair was the first to deliver his concession speech and resigned the party leadership from his party's headquarters in Toronto. Re-elected MP for Halifax and deputy party leader Megan Leslie immediately took over interim leadership. About a half-hour after Mulcair's speech aired on the CBC, Justin Trudeau took the stage at his campaign headquarters in Montreal and announced his intentions to form a coalition government if any other parties were willing to cooperate. Shortly after, Harper delivered his speech from Calgary, rallying the troops and stating that he still intended to remain as Prime Minster.

Coalition talks between Leslie and Trudeau began on August 22nd and lasted for two days. On August 25th, Trudeau drove to Rideau Hall and asked Governor General David Johnston to form a coalition government with the NDP. Johnston okayed this and Just Trudeau became the 23rd Prime Minster of Canada, with Megan Leslie as Deputy Prime Minster. The cabinet was split with 2/3 being Liberal and the other third NDP.

Stephen Harper resigned leadership of the party before parliament resumed and later resigned his seat in 2016. He went on to author several books on Poltics, History and Hockey, and became a sought-after media personality. In future Conservative party campaigns he would be a often used consultant. A leadership convention was held in 2016 to pick a new leader for the NDP. Megan Leslie won on the second ballot, beating her main challenger, Manitoba MP Pat Martin. Elizabeth May stepped down from the party leadership in 2017 but stayed on as deputy leader. Andrew Weaver was acclaimed as leader of the party.