Unite The Right - Aftermath

Aftermath

Months later, Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin called for a general election. However in the interim between the formation of the new party and the selection of its new leader, investigations into the Canadian Sponsorship scandal and the investigation by the Gomery Commission had knocked some wind out of the Liberal Party's political sails, resulting in the election being backed up to late June as opposed to early April. This allowed the Conservatives to be more prepared for the race, unlike the 2000 snap election. For the first time since the 1984 election, the Liberal Party would have to deal with a united conservative opposition.

Polls indicated an increase in support for the new Conservative Party and by all pollster indications by mid-campaign, it seemed as if Harper was on the verge of becoming Prime Minister of a minority government. But even at their highest level of support the Tories were still some percentage points off the combined total of the two separate right-wing parties that had run in the last election. A number of prominent ex-Tories also chose to support the Liberals. These included MPs Scott Brison, Keith Martin, and John Herron, who crossed the floor to the Liberals. Lukewarm endorsements of Liberal Party candidates at the onset of the campaign were extended by former Tory MPs Joe Clark, Brian Mulroney, André Bachand, Rick Borotsik, and former federal PC Party president Bruck Easton.

Harper's new Conservatives emerged from the election with a larger parliamentary caucus of 99 MPs. Chuck Cadman, a former CA MP who failed to win the Conservative Party nomination in his riding, was re-elected as an independent. The Liberals were reduced to a thin minority government, relegating the governing party to obtaining support from at least two of the three opposition parties to pass legislation.

In the Canadian federal election, 2006, after a decade of work, the Conservatives seemed to attain their goal of being an electable "United Alternative" when they were given a minority government by the electorate. In the 2011 federal election, the Conservatives under Harper won a majority government, the first majority for the main right-of-center party since the defeat of the Campbell PC Party in 1993.