The political questions at the center of the elections for Canada’s capitalist rulers were how to respond to growing tensions with their U.S. imperialist competitors, and their failure to push back the national aspirations of the Quebecois, an oppressed nation within Canada.

The Conservatives increased their total number of seats by 25, while the Liberals dropped from 135 to 103. The New Democratic Party, a social-democratic party based on the trade unions, jumped from 19 to 29 seats.

The Bloc Quebecois, which advocates sovereignty—independence—for Quebec and only runs candidates in that province, dropped three seats, winning 51 of Quebec’s 75 seats. The Conservatives, which had no seats there, won 10. The Liberals dropped from 21 to 13.

Early in the campaign, U.S. ambassador David Wilkins publicly complained about the “American-bashing” tone of the Liberal Party campaign. Constant criticisms of “your number one trading partner” could “hurt the Canada-U.S. relationship,” he said.

Harper successfully campaigned on the promise to patch up relations with Washington. For example, he called for reconsidering the Liberal government’s refusal to participate fully in Washington’s new ballistic missile defense system.

Taking advantage of the collapsing Liberal Party base in Quebec, the Conservatives took initiatives to win support in that region by promising more powers to the provinces. This included a promise to give the Quebec government a higher “visibility” in international arenas such as UNESCO.

“The Tory government will deepen its attacks on workers’ life and limb as it increases its intervention in the war in Afghanistan,” said Michel Prairie, the candidate of the Communist League in Toronto-Centre. “We join workers organizing unions and extending union power to defend themselves in face of these attacks.”  
 
 
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