Conservatives Win in Canada

From CTV:

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper has won a minority government on Monday, putting an end to more than 12 years of Liberal rule.

Polls across the country are now closed and results are pouring in.

The Conservatives have taken a commanding lead with 123 seats, compared to 102 for the second place Liberals.

The Bloc Quebecois currently holds 50 seats, while the NDP has won 30.

Support for the Tories exploded when the polls closed west of Atlantic Canada.

Harper, Canada's next prime minister, has been re-elected in the Alberta riding of Calgary Southwest. The Conservatives dominated in the West, and took most seats in the Prairies, as expected.

But it was in battleground Ontario where the Conservatives made a big breakthrough, with most of the polls showing they're on track to take at least a dozen more seats than the 24 they won in 2004.

Preliminary Results:

National Last updated: 22:55 ET Party Party standing %   Popular vote %

AACEV Party of Canada	0	0.0		21	0.0
Bloc Québécois	50	16.3		652,258	9.5
Canadian Action	0	0.0		2,092	0.0
Christian Heritage Party	0	0.0		15,046	0.2
Communist	0	0.0		1,326	0.0
Conservative	124	40.5		2,513,393	36.5
FPNP	0	0.0		586	0.0
Green Party	0	0.0		289,832	4.2
Independent	1	0.3		33,085	0.5
Liberal	102	33.3		2,152,967	31.2
Libertarian	0	0.0		965	0.0
Marijuana Party	0	0.0		4,180	0.1
Marxist-Leninist	0	0.0		3,524	0.1
N.D.P.	29	9.5		1,217,484	17.7
No Affiliation	0	0.0		3,172	0.1
PC Party	0	0.0		6,224	0.1
WBP	0	0.0		262	0.0

Total number of valid votes:

6,895,918

Polls reporting: 34,598/65,649	Voter turnout: 6,895,918 of 22,636,409 registered electors (30.5%)
The number of registered electors shown in this table does not include electors who registered on election day.

I am sure we are all disappointed at the poor showing for the Marijuana Party. You might say that their political ambitions have gone up in smoke.