It's Harper time

We have a new prime minister.

Stephen Harper is the new prime minister-designate as his Conservative Party took about 124 of the 308 seats in Parliament. Prime Minister Paul Martin announced in his concession speech that he will step down as Liberal Party leader.

Harper will lead uncharted territory as he has a minority government with no logical party to share power with in the House of Commons. Harper, 46, an economist from Calgary, will be the 22nd prime minister of Canada and the 5th youngest. The Conservatives have not been in power since 1993.

The Conservatives received 124 seats, followed by the Liberals at 103, the Bloc Quebecois at 51, the NDP at 29, and 1 Independent seat (belonging to conservative radio talk-show host Andre Arthur).

If you are looking for a quick difference, the Conservatives won 10 seats in Quebec from 0 in the previous House. If the Liberals had won those 10 seats instead, the difference between the two parties would be 1 seat.

C-SPAN2 has coverage Tuesday night. According to their schedule, the coverage gets underway at 7:05 p.m. EST. It lists The National from the CBC at 9 p.m. EST (the Atlantic time zone feed). So check it out, and some of the coverage is rebroadcast throughout the night.