Harper's defeat worse, Conservative opposition smaller than most
When Stephen Harper conceded defeat on election night, he took solace that he had elected a "strong Official Opposition."
A number of Conservative MPs and commentators have also seen this silver lining in the results of the Oct. 19 federal vote, with interim leader Rona Ambrose saying that, with 99 MPs, the Conservative Party is in "very good shape."
Undeterred by their defeat, the Conservatives are already beginning to flex their muscles as critics of the Liberal government on issues around refugees, terrorism and the fight against ISIS — albeit on Twitter and in front of cameras for now, as they await the return of MPs to the House of Commons on Dec. 3.
But how does the Conservative opposition stack up to its predecessors in the role? And just how much of a defeat were the Conservatives handed, compared to the fates of previously defeated governments?
The Conservatives captured 31.9 per cent of the popular vote in the election. The party heralded this number as a sign that its base remains strong, despite its being little different than the 30.6 per cent the New Democrats captured in 2011 and the 30.2 per cent the Liberals under Paul Martin took in 2006.
In both cases, those parties met with worse results in their next electoral showings.
Relative to the number of seats in the House of Commons, the size of the Conservative opposition is slightly below average. With its MPs occupying 29.3 per cent of the 338 seats, it ranks as the 28th largest official opposition of the 42 that have been elected to Ottawa.
On average, the largest opposition parties in Canada have taken up 32 per cent of the seats in the House of Commons, a mark the Conservatives fell short of by about nine seats.
The Tories as a defeated government
Much of the post-election analysis of the performance of the Conservatives, however, has been in terms of their defeat as an incumbent government. The last time the Tories were booted out of power, in 1993, the party was reduced to just two seats. By that measure, 99 is pretty good.
But here again, compared to other defeated governments the Conservative performance was below average.
Harper's defeat worse, Conservative opposition smaller than most - Politics - CBC News
