2011 Canadian federal election in Quebec
In the 2011 Canadian federal election, there were 75 members of Parliament elected to the House of Commons from the province of Quebec, making up 24.4% of all members of the House.
Results
Summary
This election saw a massive political realignment for federal politics in Quebec. The NDP greatly increased their vote and seat share. Obtaining 59 seats and 42.9% the popular vote. The Liberal party declined to 7 seats and 14.2% of the vote. The Conservatives also moderately declined to 5 seats and 16.5%, this was the lowest seat total that a party has ever received in Quebec, while still gaining a majority government nationally. The Bloc Quebecois saw their support collapse, falling to just 4 seats and 23.4% of the popular vote, with longtime leader Gilles Duceppe losing his own seat. This caused the party to enter a wilderness period that it only recovered from in 2019. The Green party won no seats and got 2.1% of the vote. Independents and smaller parties received 0.6% and 0.2% of the vote respectively.
The 2011 election saw the NDP massively increase their support, coming in second place nationally for the first time in their history. The surge in support began in Quebec, a province where the party had only ever won two seats before, and only won 12.2% of the vote and a single seat in the previous election. The NDP surprised many observers by surpassing the Bloc in Quebec, which had dominated federal elections in Quebec since its formation in the early 1990s. The NDP surge became the dominant narrative of the last week of the campaign, as other parties turned their attacks on the party. Ruth Ellen Brosseau, the NDP candidate in Berthier—Maskinongé, won despite not running a campaign, barely speaking French at this time and being on holiday in Las Vegas at the time of the election. The NDP's rise in popularity was nicknamed Orange Crush, an allusion to the soft drink with the same name and the party's colour. It was also nicknamed the Orange Wave.