It was a historic night on so many levels. A coveted majority for Stephen Harper’s Conservative party, making him only the third Tory leader to ever win three mandates in a row.

The crushing defeat of the Liberals, relegated to third place for the first time in the party’s history which is as old as this country; the NDP’s orange crush; the Bloc Quebecois’ near demise in Quebec, losing their official party status and the election of Canada’s first Green party MP, Elizabeth May.

For Albertans, last night was an enormous relief.

The NDP’s momentum in the last weeks of the campaign that saw it rising to within the margin of error in the polls with the Conservatives, was troubling on many levels.

Election promises to put an end to oilsands development, bring in cap and trade taxes on energy, raising corporate taxes, meddling with the bank of Canada’s mandate to set interest rates, set the price of gasoline, and reopen the constitution to bring Quebec under its fold, were all destabilizing promises.

To quote finance minister Jim Flaherty, it was “amateur hour” and it appears that Canadians, when faced with their ballot, chose Harper’s steady hand on the economic rudder rather than a wild experiment with a nice guy with bad ideas and policies.

Ironically, a Conservative majority is likely the best thing that could happen to an exhausted and spent Liberal party.

A federal Liberal strategist, who asked not to be named and was reached in Toronto last night, said not having to be constantly ready to fight an election will buy the Liberals much needed time to regroup and reorganize their demoralized party, raise some money and hold a leadership convention without having to rush.

That Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff couldn’t even hold onto his own seat was an enormous humiliation.

A couple of Conservatives say they almost felt sorry for Ignatieff, who led the Liberals to the worst showing ever.

Prior to last night, where it appears the Liberals received less than 20 per cent of the popular vote, recognized that he was partly being punished for the Liberal’s sponsorship scandal that saw more than $100 million of taxpayer money stolen and redirected into Liberal party coffers. But Conservatives at the convention centre were mostly thrilled at the decimation of the Liberals.

Last night’s results show the Conservatives have been successful in tilting Canada slightly to the right in political philosophy -the ideas that smaller government and lower taxes lead to economic growth.

Ignatieff, said Preston Manning, decided to fight this election to the left, rather than on the right and rarely touted the Liberal party’s sound fiscal management during the Jean Chretien and Paul Martin years.

Instead, he vowed to raise corporate taxes -taxes he voted to lower -and to tear up the plan to buy F-35 jets. He engaged in phoney populism and most voters simply didn’t believe the positions he took as being authentic.

Alberta Senator Bert Brown was jubilant Monday night at the prospect that real senate reform can now take place.

“Harper can pass legislation that will give provinces the choice to either hold elections for senators or allow the Prime Minister to appoint them as usual. This is very good news for democratizing our country,” said Brown, who drove to Calgary from his summer home in Arizona to vote and witness history.

Manning, who was also in the crowd, was extremely happy for Canada.

“Over 10 years ago we worked hard to unite the right, hoping the left divides and get a ReformConservative majority. Now it’s here, so this is great news,” said Manning.

“I’m particularly happy on the question of Canadian unity. Quebecers have rejected the Bloc and chosen a federalist party so again, this is good news for Canada.”

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The Calgary Herald

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