{"id":17181,"date":"2015-11-09T03:18:41","date_gmt":"2015-11-09T11:18:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=17181"},"modified":"2015-11-09T03:18:41","modified_gmt":"2015-11-09T11:18:41","slug":"because-its-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2015\/11\/09\/because-its-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"“Because it’s 2015”"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is no shortage of interest in the outcome of the 2015 Canadian federal election.  The election saw the defeat of the Conservative government of Stephen Harper, long touted as not representing Canadians adequately and Harper himself being controlling and secretive, by the Liberals led by Justin Trudeau.<\/span><\/p>\n

Percentage of the Vote<\/strong><\/u>  courtesy of <\/span>Wikipedia<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Overall voter turnout was 69.1%<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Justin                                         \"Stephen                                 \"Thomas<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Justin Trudeau<\/strong><\/td>\nStephen Harper<\/td>\nTom Mulcair<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
     Liberal<\/th>\nConservative<\/td>\nNew Democratic<\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
 <\/th>\n        36<\/span><\/td>\n                                 159<\/span><\/td>\n                         95<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
 <\/th>\n      184<\/span><\/td>\n                                   99<\/span><\/td>\n                         44<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
 <\/th>\n   <\/span>\"Increase\"148<\/span><\/td>\n                                <\/span>\"Decrease\"60<\/span><\/td>\n                      <\/span>\"Decrease\"51<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
 <\/th>\n6,930,136<\/span><\/td>\n                           5,600,496<\/span><\/td>\n                 3,461,262<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
 <\/th>\n39.47%<\/span><\/td>\n                           31.89%<\/span><\/td>\n                 19.71%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\"Gilles                                                      \"Elizabeth<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Gilles Duceppe<\/td>\nElizabeth May<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bloc Québécois<\/th>\nGreen<\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
 <\/th>\n2<\/span><\/td>\n                 2<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
 <\/th>\n10<\/span><\/td>\n                 1<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
 <\/th>\n\"Increase\"8<\/span><\/td>\n              <\/span>\"Decrease\"1<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
 <\/th>\n818,652<\/span><\/td>\n      605,864<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
 <\/th>\n4.66%<\/span><\/td>\n         3.45%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The individual lines represent blue – seats before the election,<\/span> green – seats after the election,<\/span> pink – number of seats increase\/decrease,<\/span> gray – number of votes,<\/span> orange – popular vote<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is what the national map looks like.  Interesting to note is that in the Alberta provincial election earlier this year,  the conservatives were soundly defeated by the NDP.  But in the federal election, it went almost exclusively Tory.  And Saskatchewan, home to Tommy Douglas' CCF, the forerunner of the NDP, went predominently Tory.  These are farm and energy centres.  — courtesy of <\/span>Wikipedia<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Canada<\/p>\n

But what accounts for such a big change?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n