APTN National News
Conservative leader Stephen Harper seized his coveted majority Monday night after a tumultuous election campaign that propelled the NDP into previously uncharted popularity and left the once-powerful Liberal party in tatters.
Harper’s Conservative party finally managed a breakthrough that seemed increasingly elusive despite failing to substantially increase their popular vote.
The Tories gained seats in Ontario and has benefited in part from the NDP’s historic results, turning Jack Layton into the party’s first leader to become Opposition Leader in its history.
The Liberal party was left in a decimated third place, hitting a historic low.
The battled for second place between the surging NDP and the collapsing Liberals appears to have allowed Conservative candidates to come up the middle. It mirrors what former Prime Minister Jean Chretien managed in the vote split between the Progressive Conservatives and the Reform Party.
The Liberals were not the only party to suffer from a crippling blow.
The Bloc Quebecois faced major losses in Quebec, a province it once dominated federally, at the hands of the NDP which triggered an orange wave sweeping up the majority of ridings.
