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Canadian press predict victory for Conservatives
Conservative leader S Harper is likely to become the PM, as returns showed his party winning a majority of the 308 seats in the House of Commons.
Canadians appeared ready to hand Prime Minister Paul Martin a humiliating defeat on Tuesday, ending nearly 13 years of Liberal Party rule in general elections.
Conservative leader Stephen Harper stands likely to become Canada's next prime minister, as returns showed his party winning a majority of the 308 seats in the House of Commons.
In a formality of the Canadian parliament system, he would first have to be approved and sworn in by the governor general.
Relations with the Bush administration would likely improve under a Harper government, as his ideology runs along the same lines of many Republicans in the United States.
With all but one seat called for one party or another, Canada's major media predicted a Harper victory after official results indicated that the Conservatives either had won or were leading in 122 seats.
The Liberals had either won or were leading for 103 seats; the separatist Bloc Quebecois appeared to have 50 seats and the New Democratic Party was poised to gain 31 seats.
The final tally was expected to change once all the votes were in, but the national media were calling the election for Harper.
They predicted Harper would lead a minority government as the Conservatives won their first seats in more than a decade in French-speaking Quebec and were making significant inroads in traditionally Liberal Ontario.
Prime Minister Paul Martin -- who was re-elected to his Montreal seat -- would remain the leader of Canada until the governor general formally approves and swears in Harper, likely in one to two weeks.
"Today will be a great day," Don Smythe said in Calgary, after casting his vote for Harper. "I think Canada has finally realised that it's time for a change and Stephen Harper and the Conservatives are the ones to do it."
Many of Canada's 22.7 million registered voters had grown weary of the broken promises and corruption scandals under the Liberal Party.
They appeared willing to give Harper the benefit of doubt, despite fears the 46-year-old economist is too extreme in his views opposing abortion and gay marriage.
Martin's minority government was toppled in a no-confidence vote in November, unable to overcome a corruption scandal involving the misuse of funds for a national unity programme in Quebec.
An investigation absolved Martin of wrongdoing but accused senior Liberals of taking kickbacks and misspending tens of millions of dollars (euros) in public funds.
Just as campaigning hit full swing during an unusual election campaign over the Christmas holidays, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police announced they were investigating a possible leak by Liberal government officials that appeared to have influenced the stock market.
William Azaroff, 35, voted for the left-of-center New Democratic Party on Monday, but unhappily conceded there will be a Conservative government.
"I think it's a shame," said Azaroff, a business manager in Vancouver.
"I kind of want to see Paul Martin lose on a certain level, because they have a sense of entitlement. At the same time, I think the last government was actually quite effective for Canadians. I think a Conservative government is just a backlash against certain corruption and the sense of entitlement."
When the 38th Parliament was dissolved in November, 133 seats belonged to the Liberals, 98 were Conservative, 53 were filled by the Quebec separatist party Bloc Quebecois and the New Democrats had 18 seats.
There were also four Independents and two vacancies. It appears that Harper has failed to get a majority -- he needs 155 seats -- so he would require support from opposition parties to pass legislation.
Harper has pledged to cut the red tape in Canada's social welfare programs, lower the national sales tax from 7 per cent to 5 per cent, and grant more autonomy and federal funding to the country's 13 provinces and territories.
He also says he would improve relations between Canada and the United States, which comprise the world's largest trading bloc and conduct $1.5 billion (€1.22 billion) in business daily.
The Liberals have angered the Bush administration in recent years, condemning the war in Iraq, refusing to join the continental anti-ballistic missile plan and loudly criticising Washington for rejecting the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions and enacting punitive tariffs on Canadian lumber.
Harper said he would reconsider the missile defence scheme, move beyond the Kyoto debate by establishing different environmental controls and tone down the "war of words" over lumber.
He wants to spend more on the Canadian military, expand its peacekeeping missions in Afghanistan and Haiti, and tighten security along the border with the United States in an effort to prevent terrorists and guns from crossing the frontier.
Martin has trumpeted eight consecutive budget surpluses and sought to paint Harper as a right-winger posing as a moderate to woo mainstream voters.
The prime minister also has promised to lower income taxes, implement a national child-care program and ban handguns.
He claims Harper supports the war in Iraq, which most Canadians oppose, and would try to outlaw abortion and overturn nationwide gay marriage legislation approved in July -- all of which Harper denies.
