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Canadians choose conservativeDefeated PM Paul Martin to step down as Liberal leader
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QUICKVOTEYOUR E-MAIL ALERTS(CNN) -- Canadians elected Conservative Party leader Stephen Harper as their next prime minister Monday, but denied him the outright majority he would need to take any strong change in direction. "Tonight friends, our great country has voted for change and Canadians have asked our party to take the lead in that change," Harper told a cheering crowd of party faithful in Calgary late Monday. "There will be another chance, and there will be another time," Martin said. "The people of Canada have chosen (Harper) to lead a minority government, and I wish him the best." Buoyed by a political resurrection in French-speaking Quebec, the Conservatives won the most seats in the 308-seat House of Commons, despite a campaign in which Liberals tried to stop Harper by linking him to American conservatives in general -- and President Bush in particular. However, as the votes were being counted the Conservatives were hovering at around 125 seats, well short of the 155 they needed for a majority, while the scandal-plagued Liberals were winning around 100 seats, down from the 133 they held going into the vote. The Conservatives were taking about 36 percent of the vote nationwide, compared to 30 percent for the Liberals, 17 percent for the left-wing New Democrats and 10 percent for the Quebec-separatist Bloc Quebecois, which only runs candidates in the province. Under Canada's electoral system, the Conservatives, as the largest party, would form a minority government, as Martin did after a similar split in the last election in 2004. That will force Harper to find support from around 30 opposition lawmakers in order to advance measures through Parliament. Double-digit gains for ConservativesIn Monday's vote, the New Democrats appeared to be siphoning support from the Liberals on the left, increasing their seat count from 18 to around 30. The Bloc Quebecois lost a handful of seats but was still holding around 50. Going into the election, the Conservatives did not hold a single seat in Quebec, having garnered less than 9 percent of the vote there in 2004. But Monday, they were on track to take 10 of the province's 75 seats, winning more than 25 percent of the vote -- a showing that denied the separatist Bloc an outright majority and pushed the Liberals into third place. The Conservatives also made a double-digit gain in seats in Ontario, the most populous province and a Liberal stronghold. Harper, 46, an economist from Calgary, was poised to become 22nd prime minister of Canada, marking a comeback for the political right after a dozen years in the political wilderness. "We know we've run a good campaign," Harper said before the vote. "We've run the campaign we wanted to run and got our message out." The Liberals, finding themselves behind in the polls, attacked Harper late in the campaign with television ads in which they tried to portray him as a far-right conservative in the U.S. mode and link him to Bush, asking voters to "choose your Canada." A similar tactic worked against Harper in 2004, when a Conservative lead evaporated in the campaign's closing days. But this time around, Harper sought to allay concerns among moderate voters, pledging not to change the country's abortion laws and vowing to take a tougher line against the United States in an ongoing trade dispute over softwood lumber. Harper also said he would not bring Canada into the U.S. coalition in Iraq, expressing "great disappointment" that weapons of mass destruction had not been found. At the time of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Harper and other conservatives were critical of the decision by Martin's predecessor, Jean Chretien, not to participate. However, Harper has said he would have Parliament revisit a controversial decision by Martin's government to legalize same-sex marriage across the country, a measure he opposed. Liberals hit by scandalMonday's election was called after Martin's government fell in November, when the Conservatives, New Democrats and Bloc Quebecois teamed up to push through a vote of no confidence. Liberal support slid dramatically because of what came to be called the "sponsorship scandal," in which government money was paid to advertising firms to shore up support for the country's federal unity in French-speaking Quebec. An audit of the spending concluded last year that most of the money was wasted, with little or no work done, and went to firms with Liberal connections. Martin -- who inherited the scandal-plagued program from Chretien -- apologized to the Canadian people. Martin, who was not implicated in the scandal, became prime minister in December 2003, after Chretien retired. In June 2004 election, his Liberals were returned to government, but the party lost its majority amid the fallout from the sponsorship scandal. Among the most closely watched races Monday was in suburban Toronto, where Conservatives were trying to get revenge on Liberal Cabinet minister Belinda Stronach, who last year saved Martin's government by defecting from the Conservatives just before a no-confidence vote. At the time, Stronach, from one of Canada's wealthiest families, was dating the Conservative Party's deputy leader, Peter MacKay, creating a melodrama that riveted Canada. Monday, despite the best efforts of Conservatives, she managed to keep her seat. However, Martin's defeat means she will no longer be in the Cabinet, while MacKay, who also won re-election Monday in Nova Scotia, likely will be. Copyright 2006 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report. 
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