Jack Layton did it.

The smiling man with the moustache and cane, who kept telling everyone who suggested he was dreaming too big that they were just being defeatist, led his team of New Democrats to an unprecedented number of seats in Ottawa.

Layton didn't become prime minister, but he vaulted his party over both the Liberals and the Bloc Québécois to form the official Opposition for the first time in its half-century history, altering the political landscape in an election the Conservative government insisted no one wanted and the pundits said would not change a thing.

“Step by step, working together, we can build the Canada we want,” Layton told several hundred people gathered for a victory party at the Metro Convention Centre in downtown Toronto. “A country worthy of the hopes and dreams of those young Canadians who said no to the same old cynicism, to the negativity, to the politics of usual and they said yes to a Canada where anything is possible, where we all stick together and no one is left behind.”

The New Democrats began this election campaign mired in third place nationally and fighting to get attention as the Conservatives and Liberals tried to squeeze Layton out by arguing that Canadians had only two choices in this election.

Layton caught the attention of voters — especially in Quebec — during the televised debates and began riding a wave of momentum during the last two weeks of the campaign. He ended it with a whistle-stop tour that brought out hundreds of people in ridings held by his rivals, who waited in the rain to catch a glimpse of the newly popular leader and hear him talk about the winds of change.

By the end of the night Layton was one of only two leaders – the other being Stephen Harper, who got his majority government – to keep his own seat, comfortably gathering 60.5 per cent of the votes in his Toronto-Danforth riding.



It was clear as soon as the results started rolling in from Atlantic Canada on Monday night the surge was translating into seats, putting to rest fears the party would have trouble getting out the vote.

Next came the previously unthinkable number of seats in Quebec, making the NDP the first federalist party to best the Bloc in the province since before the last referendum on sovereignty with a group of likely nervous new MPs who were little more than a name on a ballot before the surge.

Even a woman who took a midcampaign vacation to Las Vegas — after having spent the first few weeks working at an Ottawa bar three hours away from the riding — was poised to begin a whole new career.

The victory was likely bittersweet for many New Democrats, as the Conservatives looked poised to finally win a majority government, putting to rest any ideas about forming a coalition or some other arrangement with the Liberals and taking power for the time being.

The Liberals tried in this campaign as in others to win left-leaning voters over to their side by arguing that casting a ballot for the NDP means electing a Conservative, an argument that proved true in areas where the orange surge split the vote and delivered red seats to Stephen Harper.

Layton said he would be willing to work with Harper in his new role as opposition leader.

“I’ve always favoured proposition over opposition, but we will oppose the government when it’s off track,” said Layton, although despite vastly increasing his seat count he has lost the power to force Harper’s hand.

Many in the crowd had booed as Layton said he had already spoken to Harper and congratulated him on his victory.

“It’s a significant accomplishment, my friends, and a heavy responsibility and I join all Canadians in wishing him well,” Layton said as booing faded, adding he told Harper he looks forward to working with Conservatives and all parties to advance his proposals for families and bring a more respectful tone to Parliament.

Layton also congratulated Ignatieff for running a respectful campaign despite the disappointing result, noting that he appreciated his focus on families and health care and adding that he looks forward to working with Liberal colleagues.

Layton thanked Duceppe for his long public service.

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“Despite our having a different vision for the future of the country, we share the same faith in democracy and the thirst for a more just society,” said Layton, who then added his “sincere congratulations” to Green Party Leader Elizabeth May for winning a seat.

Still, several hundred supporters at the Metro Convention Centre in Toronto on Monday night were in a joyous mood, and for good reason.

They had gone into the campaign hoping to beat the record 43 seats the New Democrats had won under former leader Ed Broadbent in the 1988 election and ended up becoming the story of this election.

The surge was a surprising turn of events for a party whose leader just six weeks ago insisted he would rather work with Conservative Leader Stephen Harper to get results for ordinary families in the federal budget than help launch the country into a spring election.

Layton had demanded the budget include improved pensions and benefits for seniors, more family doctors and measures to cut down the cost of home heating in exchange for supporting the minority Conservative government through crucial votes.

It was conventional wisdom that since Layton, 60, was recovering from hip surgery and the NDP had little to gain from an election, the party would be hard pressed not to find some way to support the budget. His near immediate decision to vote against it despite some concessions by Harper turned out to be just one in a long list of surprises.

The New Democrats prepared a growth strategy for this campaign that went after new voters on several different fronts. They told anti-Harper voters in ridings they viewed as two-way race between the orange and blue teams that despite what they were hearing on the national airwaves, it was New Democrats who beat Conservatives in their neck of the woods.

They targeted Liberal voters by taking advantage of high leadership approval ratings for Layton and low scores for Michael Ignatieff. They appealed to Bloc voters by arguing that while Gilles Duceppe could keep Harper from a majority, Layton could replace him altogether.

The campaign got off to a slow start. Layton was upbeat and polished but that was unremarkable for the experienced politician fighting his fourth federal election since becoming leader in 2003 and the unimpressive crowd sizes at rallies made the campaign look and feel like it was falling flat.

The debates began to change everything.

The English-language debate had Layton leaving Ignatieff at an embarrassing loss for words when he berated him for his poor voting record in the Commons, telling him that most Canadians do not get a promotion if they do not show up for work.

The French-language debate had him promising to try and bring Quebec into the constitutional fold one day, a suggestion that did not sit well with Canadians but went over well with soft nationalists who had begun to tire of the Bloc.

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