2015 Canadian Federal Election (TimTom)

Next Election The 2015 Canadian Federal Election was held on May 20th, 2015, to elect members to the 42nd Canadian Parliament.

The election was called by Governor General Romeo Dallaire, upon the request of Prime Minster Stephen Harper. Harper chose to dissolve the government after he and his Finance Minister, Joe Oliver, presented a balanced budget.

The election resulted in a Conservative minority government.

Post-Election
The election resulted in a minority government for Prime Minster Stephen Harper.

The Conservatives were re-elected, despite polls putting them in second (and possibly third) place days before the election. They ran a strong campaign, the 5th as leader for Harper. They held on to their prairie and rural Ontario base, but lost seats to the NDP in BC and Saskatchewan and to the Liberals in urban Toronto and the Maritimes. Stephen Harper stayed on as leader until July, when he resigned his position as prime minster and MP for Calgary-Shepard. Diane Finley was made interim prime minster, the second woman to fill the role. On a leadership election held on February 12th, 2016, right-wing socially conservative Alberta MP Jason Kenney edged out the more centre-right Lisa Raitt of Ontario and centrist Peter MacKay on Nova Scotia. Kenney was sworn in as Prime Minster on March 1st, 2016.

Despite losing seats, the NDP ran a strong campaign and did better then many expected. With the Conservatives holding a minority of seats, Tom Mulcair approached Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau to form a coalition government between their two parties. Trudeau refused, saying he would rather serve in opposition then as deputy prime minster. After the election, the NDP contiuned to rise in the polls.

Dissappointment after the election was rampant within the Liberal Party, and many blamed Justin Trudeau for the Liberals not forming government, which the polls indicated they would. Over the summer, a caucus rebellion (Led by Ted Hsu, MP for Kingston and the Islands) broke out, demanding that Trudeau allow a leadership election. When Trudeau refused, 13 MPs left the caucus, led by Hsu. At the Liberals convention in Winnipeg in November, a surprise confidence vote was put forward on Trudeau's leadership. He lost, with 59% of the party's members voting to allow a leadership election. Trudeau refused to stand in it, and resigned as leader. Marc Garneau, MP for Ville Marie-Saint Lambert, was made interim leader. Hsu and the caucus rebels rejoined the party. Hsu stood for the leadership election, representing the anti-Trudeau progressive wing of the party, while Trudeau's ally Dominic LeBlanc represented the more centrist, Pro-Trudeau faction. The election was scheduled for June of 2016 but was interputed by the 2016 Canadian Federal Election.

The Bloc Quebecois failed to make a comeback under hardline-separatist leader, Mario Beaulieu, who also failed to win his own seat. He resigned as leader on election night, and was replaced by MP Jean-Francois Fortin.

The Greens slightly increased their vote but did not increase the number of seats they won. Bruce Hyer, MP for Thunder Bay-Superior North, lost his re-election, winning 9% of the vote, which put him in third place behind the Liberals and the Conservatives. Leader Elizabeth May was easily re-elected in her seat, and Andrew Weaver, MLA for Oak Bay-Gordon Head, was elected in the neighbouring riding of Victoria.

The 3 independent incumbents running for re-election all lost, but drastically helped increase the vote of the non-major candidates. This, along with a strong showing by the Christian Heritage Party and the Libertarian Party, led to the highest vote for non-parlimentary parties in years.