Election 2011 Results Part 1 - The Losers and The Greens

The federal election witnessed by Canadians on Monday (May 2) had more surprises and twists than a soap opera.
Let's start from the bottom of the pile.
1) The Green Party wins a seat
Green party leader Elizabeth May defeated the Conservative Minister of State(sport), Gary Lunn (who has held the riding for the last 14 years), securing the first ever Green Party seat in the House of Commons as the representative of Saanich-Gulf Islands, British Columbia. She will not have much of a say (especially with the Conservative Majority) but will provide a refreshing voice in the House of Commons. She is also guaranteed a seat at the Leader's debate in the next election which she had been denied this election.

2) THE DEATH OF THE BLOC
To the shock of many, the Bloc Quebecois came out as the biggest losers in the election. Succumbing to the ``Orange Crush``, the Bloc plummeted 43 seats (ALL to the NDP) all the way down from 47 to just 4 seats in the House, resulting in the loss of their official party status. This leads to the question of whether or not separatism can survive in Quebebc. Highlighting the historic defeat was the crushing defeat of leader Gilles Duceppe in his riding of Laurier-Sainte-Marie (which he has represented for over 20 years) where he lost by almost 5400 votes (23% less than NDP winner Helene Laverdiere (or 11% of the overall vote)). Needless to say he resigned his position of party leader shortly after the election.

3) The Liberals seeing red
The Liberals also lost a stunning 43 seats, falling all the way down to a historic low of 34 seats in the House. For the first time in the history of Canada, the Liberal Party will not be the party in power or the leader of the opposition, having succumbed to both the NDP (who added an astonishing 68 seats to their ranks) and Stephen Harper`s Conservatives who finally got their majority. Among the surprising defeats (19 of which came in Ontario) came popular candidates Gerrard Kennedy and Ken Dryden who had long represented their respective ridings and had been considered for party Leadership. Adding to the defeat was Michael Ignatieff`s loss in the Liberal stronghold of Etobicoke Lakeshore by over 2000 seats.