2008 Canadian federal election

2008 Canadian federal election
← List of House members of the 39th Parliament of Canada List of House members of the 40th Parliament of Canada →
308 seats in the House of Commons ; 155 seats needed for a majority
	Opinion polls
Turnout	58.8% (5.9pp)
Prime Minister before election; Stephen Harper; Conservative	Prime Minister after election ; Stephen Harper; Conservative

The 2008 Canadian federal election was held on October 14, 2008, to elect members to the House of Commons of Canada of the 40th Canadian Parliament after the previous parliament had been dissolved by Governor General Michaëlle Jean on September 7, 2008.

The election resulted in a second but stronger minority government for Harper's Conservatives. While they were a dozen seats away from a majority government, the Liberal Party led by Stéphane Dion lost 18 seats as the New Democratic Party and the Bloc Québécois made some gains. Following the election, the Liberals and New Democrats tried to form a coalition government and topple the Conservatives from power, but were unsuccessful in doing so.

Results

Elections to the 40th Canadian Parliament (2008)^[1]^[2]^[3]
Party		Leader	Candidates	Votes					Seats
Party		Leader	Candidates	#	±	%	Change (pp)		2006	2008	±	G	L
	Conservative	Stephen Harper	307^[b]	5,209,069	165,002	37.65	1.38	1.38	124	143 / 308	19	25	6
	Liberal	Stéphane Dion	307^[c]^[d]	3,633,185	846,230	26.26	-3.97		103	77 / 308	26	5	31
	New Democratic	Jack Layton	308^[e]	2,515,288	74,309	18.18	0.70	0.7	29	37 / 308	8	11	3
	Bloc Québécois	Gilles Duceppe	75	1,379,991	173,210	9.98	-0.51		51	49 / 308	2	1	3
	Green	Elizabeth May	303	937,613	273,545	6.78	2.30	2.3
	Independent		71	94,844	12,984	0.69	0.13	0.13	1	2 / 308	1	1	–
	Christian Heritage	Ron Gray	59	26,475	1,677	0.19	–
	Marxist–Leninist	Anna Di Carlo	59	8,565	415	0.06	–
	Libertarian	Dennis Young	26	7,300	4,298	0.05	0.03
	Progressive Canadian	Sinclair Stevens	10	5,860	8,291	0.04	-0.05
	Communist	Miguel Figueroa	24	3,572	550	0.03	0.01
	Canadian Action	Connie Fogal	20	3,455	2,647	0.02	-0.02
	Marijuana	Blair Longley	8	2,298	6,873	0.02	-0.05
	neorhino.ca	François Gourd	7	2,122	2,122	0.02	New
	Newfoundland and Labrador First	Tom Hickey	3	1,713	1,713	0.01	New
	First Peoples National	Barbara Wardlaw	6	1,611	410	0.01	–
	Animal Alliance	Liz White	4	527	455	–	–
	Work Less	Conrad Schmidt	1	425	425	–	New
	Western Block	Doug Christie	1	195	899	–	-0.01
	People's Political Power	Roger Poisson	2	186	186	–	New
Total			1,601	13,834,294		100.00%
Rejected ballots				94,799	3,255
Turnout				13,929,093	979,610	58.83%	5.84
Registered voters				23,677,639	623,024

↑ Only contested seats in Quebec.
↑ The Conservatives chose not to field a candidate in Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, as the incumbent Independent MP André Arthur consistently sided with them in votes in the House.
↑ The Liberals opted not to field a candidate in Central Nova, so as not to oppose Elizabeth May in her campaign for a Green seat.
↑ Lesley Hughes of Kildonan—St. Paul was nominated as a Liberal, but lost party support after the nomination deadline and continued to run as an independent; she was listed as a Liberal on the ballot.^[4]^[5]
↑ Includes Julian West (Saanich—Gulf Islands) and Andrew McKeever (Durham), who withdrew their candidacies but still appeared on the ballot.

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