Canada Returns Conservative Minority Government

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been re-elected to form a minority government. Harper's Conservative party boosted the size of its minority in yesterday's Canadian election but fell a dozen seats short of a majority, Reuters reports. The opposition Liberals slumped to their lowest share of the popular vote in history, hit hard by competition from the New Democratic Party and Green Party. Canada now has its third minority government in four years

Harper hailed the results as showing the party had broadened its support, but he will still need opposition support to govern. "Every other incumbent government in the Western world is in serious political trouble with the economic situation," noted one re-elected Tory member of Parliament.