The Conservative party won a majority in the Canadian election yesterday, after five years of minority rule. The left-wing New Democratic Party vaulted over the Liberals to form the official opposition, while the Green Party won its first-ever seat in Parliament.

The results mean Canadians can expect four years of arguments over environmental issues, with the Conservatives generally hostile to efforts to address climate change, and highly supportive of the exploitation of western Canada’s tar sands. The NDP and lone Green will oppose them, but with a solid conservative majority it will likely be a losing battle.

This election was called when the opposition parties passed a motion of no confidence in the minority Conservative government in March, shortly after the government had presented its budget. That budget, which contained a few points of interest for researchers (as we reported at the time), is now likely to be re-introduced shortly in more or less the same form.

Image: Prime Minister Stephen Harper / Wikipedia