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2011: “Orange Crush” helps NDP become Opposition

Broadcast Date: May 3, 2011

After winning back-to-back minorities in 2006 and 2008, Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party of Canada finally capture enough seats in 2011 to form a majority government. More remarkably, the NDP has swept to Opposition status, winning 102 seats to the beleaguered Liberals' 34. In this day-after report from CBC-TV's Adrienne Arsenault, NDP Leader Jack Layton savours his victory while observers say he's got a lot of hard work ahead of him.

2011: “Orange Crush” helps NDP become Opposition

• The federal election of 2011 was forced by the three opposition parties in the House of Commons on Mar. 25, 2011. Members of the Liberals, the Bloc Québécois and the NDP united to vote in favour of a motion saying they lacked confidence in the government, which the House had ruled was in contempt of Parliament several days earlier.

• The Bloc Québécois, a force on the federal scene since 1993, was decimated in the subsequent election, dropping from 47 seats to four. Leader Gilles Duceppe was defeated, and he announced his resignation soon after.

• With only 34 seats, the Liberals dropped to third-party status for the first time in their history. Leader Michael Ignatieff stepped down the following day.

• Many of the NDP's newly elected Quebec MPs were under scrutiny in the days following the election. At least five were students still in university – including a 19-year-old who was the youngest MP ever elected – and one was an Ottawa bar manager who had spent part of the campaign in Las Vegas and never visited the riding in which she was elected.

2011: “Orange Crush” helps NDP become Opposition

Medium: Television

Program: The National

Broadcast Date: May 3, 2011

Guest(s): Charmaine Borg, Liza Frulla, Marie Grégoire, Jack Layton

Host: Wendy Mesley
Reporter: Adrienne Arsenault

Duration: 3:41

Last updated:
June 30, 2011