The latest battleground state and national polls are in

[laundry_queen]

148. Oh, that was because of 2 reasons

#1 - the reason Harper was elected in the first place is because we were coming off a zillion (lol) years of Liberal (big L, name of party) rule and there was a scandal. Harper got a minority because of the Liberals being investigated for corruption.

#2 - the reason Harper now has a majority is because when he had a minority he didn't do anything super alarming, and the main reason - the left is split here in Canada. The Liberal party somewhat imploded with 2 disasterous leader picks (Stephane Dion and Michael Ignatieff) and the NPD, with Jack Layton in charge, quickly gained a large share of the Liberal vote (especially as the Liberals drifted rightward). So the vote was split evenly enough that Harper was able to squeak by with a majority. Something like 61% of Canadians voted for left-leaning parties. The votes were split between the Liberals, the NDP and the Green Party, as well as the regional separatist party (which leans socially left) Bloc Quebecois. It's one of the downfalls of the parliamentary system, that when there is one party on one side of the political spectrum and multiple parties on the other side, the side with one party usually wins. For instance, the Liberals won 4 straight majority governments because the right was split between the Progressive Conservatives (there's an oxymoron for you) and the Reform/Canadian Alliance party, both of which later united to form today's Conservative party. Sooner or later, the left will unite behind 1 party, some malcontents on the FAR right will start a new party (has happened already in Alberta with the Wildrose party) and the pendulum will swing again.

BTW, Harper at least is not LDS - he is our first evangelical PM though. Most of our PMs have been Catholic. I do worry about the whole LDS/Lyin' for the Lord crap. Good luck, rooting for you (and President Obama!)