Thank You LM for showing an interest!!!
Well I think he willl have to also be very careful about his lawmaking about certain uh moral issues. There where quite a few things that I liked about the Conservative party's platform, but because he suggested using the not withstanding clause to ban gay marriage (which is an illegal law, but using the not withsatnding clause could make it stick), basically just because he dosen't like it (frankly in my mind gay marriage does not directly affect anyone else eccept the couple involved), disturbs me greatly. That is why I did not vote for him. If it works it can open a backdoor to make a lot other illegal laws legal just because a group of people don't like it.
Here is a bit of history that in part explained why Liberals ended up in power so long. Around the 80's I think, there was a split within the Conservative party. There were moderate Conservative and far right Conservatives. The far right split off and created their own party called the Reform party. They had a great deal of support from western Canada, yet they could never win an election because the province of Onatrio basically decides ahd election. In general Ontarians were wary of the extreme right wing agenda (which had included actually banning abortion (currently there is no law about abortion at all in Canada), also, people had the vibe that the Reform were uh not into ethnic diversity and they seemed shaky on immigration. Ontario is extremely diverse in the southern major cities in Onatrio)). They then switched their name to the Canadian alliance. They still couldn't win. Since the right was split neither the Conservative or the Canadian Alliance could win an election ( The conservatives introduced one of the most visible and hated taxes in all of Canada, called the GST the last time they were in).
Since there were no viable right wing options the Liberals kept on winning basically since ceratin areas of Canada felt there was no other real choice. It wasn't necessarily because they were better. THe Conservative and Canadian Alliance parties came back together under a Conservative banner but, it has a slightly more right wing twist then it used to be (as far as I can remember, I was little the last time).
Anyway Stephen Harper was a member of the Canadian Alliance which is why I am not surprised he dosen't think gay marriage is the greatest thing, but I am surprised he could go as far to make a law against it. He did say in his election campaign the he would do nothing about the abortion issues (yet it seems several conservatives have avoided answering what would happen if a backbencher brought up a bill). Also, he had to minimize the appearance that he was pro U.S (he publcly stated he supported the Iraq war in the past). Me I am comfortable with him in a minority government, I think he can do good things (like curbing corruption), and with a minority it can curb his more extreme leanings.
Depending on how he does though I will not be comfortable with him in a majority government unless he steps back from the gay marriage issue. Or potentially other issues too, several women have said to me he wants to send women back to the dark ages. I don't think that, but he will have that part of the electorate to convince if he wants a mojority. Most of what I have said concerning the party history is what I can remember (and probably biased), if anyone feels like it please fill in the blanks
Many people have said this is a victory for the western Canada since they finally have a government that represents them. But as a PM he has to work to keep Quebec happy. It will be very interesting to see if he can keep such a broad cross section of Canada satisfied to a degree.