Who won?

After weeks of promised spending, handshaking and mudslinging, our federal election is finally over. On January 23, 2006, Canadians made their way to the polls and elected a new parliament.

The 308 seats are now as follows

Conservatives - 124
Liberals - 103
Bloc Québécois - 51
New Democrats - 29
Independent - 1

We had many contest entries and some interesting predictions.

One entrant, who may or may not be a Conservative MP, promised that the Conservatives would sweep across the country and finally have "ABSOLUTE CONTROL, AFTER OUR BEER HALL PUTSCH! Ever push a beer hall?"

Another entrant suggested that the Bloc would win total control, romancing prairie voters with the slogan "Mon crisse de muffler est fucké, tabernak!"-which apparently sums up a pan Canadian frustration with our frigid climate.

Mainly the entries followed the polls. When the Liberals were up in the polls, they were also leading in the Maisonneuve election contest. When the Conservatives were poised to form a majority, we saw the shift in the entries. There were, however, those of you who predicted the Conservative result very early on. We bow to your political savvy.

In the end, however, we had to pick the three closest entries. They are (in order of who came closest):

Julien Racette of Ottawa
David Read of Montreal
Cheryl Wright of Victoria

Expect your fabulous Maisonneuve prize pack in the mail: the Maisonneuve 2005 Box Set and a one-year subscription to Maisonneuve magazine.

Thank you all for entering and congratulations to the winners!