Story by Mike O'Brien

Political power in the United States has been shuffling along party lines for years. In 1989, conservative George H. Bush was elected the 41st American president. Four years later, Bill Clinton, a liberal Democrat from Arkansas, took over, and served twice. Clinton was succeeded by George W. Bush, another Republican, who has since been re-elected. Throughout this time, Canada's politics have been much more consistent-until now.

Our neighbor to the north has four primary political parties-Liberals, Conservatives, Bloc-Quebecois, and New Democratic. The NDP and Conservatives are somewhat comparable to American Democrats and Republicans, respectively, with the Liberal party falling somewhere in between the two. Bloc-Quebecois doesn't have any American equivalent; the special interest party's main focus is promoting sovereignty for Quebec. Since 1993, the Liberals have been in office. As of February 6, 2006, however, Stephen Harper, the leader of the conservative party, is the 22nd Prime Minister of Canada.

Like the United States, Canadian politics use a system similar to the Electoral College. On the January 23 Election Day, 5,370,903 people voted for Harper, which gave him the popular vote of 36.25 percent. This translated to 124 of the 308 House of Commons seats, narrowly edging out the Liberal party with 103 seats and 30.22 percent of the popular vote.

"I hate to put it in simple terms," says Dr. Christopher Kirkey, the director of the Center for the Study of Canada at Plattsburgh State University College, "but there was a need for change." Kirkey's observation is supported by a voter turnout of nearly 65 percent, a five percent jump from the previous election, in 2004. "The Liberals have been in power for 12 years, and had abused the public's trust. There was a sense that the party couldn't be trusted to move forward and it really hit home on Election Day," says Kirkey.

"The Liberals have been in power for 12 years, and had abused the public's trust. There was a sense that the party couldn't be trusted to move forward and it really hit home on Election Day."

Earlier this year, CBC News ran a list of the top 12 Canadian political scandals. The list began with the corrupt Pacific Scandal of 1873, and continued throughout history. Six of these 10 incidents took place during the Liberals recent reign with four occurring under the rule of Jean Chrétien, who was prime minister from 1993 until 2003.

Eyebrows raised when Chrétien suddenly disaffiliated with two prosperous resorts he had invested in. They were raised again during the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation Conference in Vancouver during November 1997. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police had pepper sprayed protesters along the attending world leaders' planned route. Chrétien responded with a joke-"For me, pepper, I put on my plate."

Three years later, an internal audit in 2000 discovered the Chrétien's government had failed to track $1 billion worth of employment grants. After 12 RCMP investigations and months of House of Commons questioning, Human Resources Development Minister Jane Smith kept her position, but didn't run for it again after her term ended.

And finally, 2004 brought the sponsorship scandal. In 1995, Chrétien's home province of Quebec was seeking sovereignty, and the prime minister wanted to promote the federal government. He paid $355 million to various groups and organizations to use the Canadian flag in their advertisements. This incident went unknown for nine years, until an audit came to the surface. Upon further investigation, Justice John Gomery found that $150 million had been given to Quebec advertising agencies. In exchange, the advertising agencies donated to Quebec's Liberal party.

"There was a big frustration with apparent corruption," says Nathan Corbett, a registered member of the NDP from Nova Scotia. In Corbett's opinion, an action like that may have disenchanted the Canadian people in regards to a Liberal government. In addition to being in power during many scandals, Chrétien had spoken out against President George W. Bush on many occasions. "He was the prime minister who distanced our relationship with the United States," says Corbett.

While Corbett doesn't particularly agree with the Conservative politics, that's one area, in which he thinks Harper will be good for Canada. "He's very right-wing, and because they have similar beliefs, I think Bush will be more comfortable talking with him," he says, of Harper's ability to restore the relationship between our two nations.

Like Bush, Harper is seen as religious, but there was much more to his campaign than issues of morality. Harper has publicly referred to the sponsorship scandal as the worst in Canadian history, and as prime minister, one of his goals is to curb corruption. Harper also vows to fight organized crime, extend fishing boundaries, improve health care, and make Canada's taxes lower than those of the United States.

The ultra-liberal Corbett has different hopes for Harper's term. "It's good for Canada," he says, "because it makes the Conservatives more likely to mess up. It'll let the Liberals show them up, and hopefully give the NDP a chance to shine."

Do you think the Conservatives will have a positive impact in office?

Who is Stephen Harper?
Stephen Harper grew up in Leaside, an expensive, suburbanized neighborhood in Toronto , Ontario. It was in high school where Harper first became involved in politics – he was a member of the Young Liberals club.

After a brief stint at the University of Toronto, Harper attended the University of Calgary, where he got a degree in economics. It was Calgary where Harper's political allegiance changed; he felt that the Trudeau Liberal government's energy program was harming Alberta 's energy industry.

In 1985, Harper became chief aide to Jim Hawkes, eventually succeeding him as head of the Progressive Conservative Party. In 2003, Harper went on to co-found the Conservative Party of Canada, the party he was representing in Canada 's 2004 and 2006 elections. He won the latter, and on February 6, 2006 , Harper became the 22nd Prime Minister of Canada.

Alberta's Allegiance
The Liberals may have dominated Canada for over a decade, but the party certainly hasn't dominated Alberta.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper may be from Calgary, the province's largest city, but the Conservative victory can't just be chalked up to hometown pride. Calgary is the conservative center of Alberta, which is a traditionally conservative area of Canada.

Historically, Albertans have been followers of the Conservative party, something that hasn't changed at all with time-Harper won all 28 of Alberta's provincial seats, something that hasn't happened in Canada since the 1960s.