Several Indian-origin candidates made it to the Canadian Parliament Tuesday as the opposition Conservative party defeated the Liberal of Prime Minister Paul Martin, ending its 12-year rule marred by scandals.
The Conservatives led by Stephen Harper won 124 seats against the Liberals who managed to hold on to 103 -- down from the 133 they won in the 2004 election in the 308-seat House of Commons.
Among people of Indian origin who won the elections were Canada's Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh, Gurbax Singh Malhi, Dr Ruby Dhalla, a Liberal and the youngest Member of Parliament, and Navdeep Bains.
Most of the Indo-Canadians running for the elections were from the Conservative Party (13), followed by the ruling Liberal Party (11) and the New Democratic Party (8).
Conservatives are still well short of 155 seats needed for a Parliamentary majority.
The New Democrats made gains in British Columbia and Toronto with 29 seats - up from 19 in 2004.
Among the casualties were Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan and Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew.
McLellan's defeat in Edmonton marked the end of the Liberal presence in Alberta, while Pettigrew was symbolic of the party's collapse in Quebec.
Canadians finally accepted 46-year-old Stephen Harper, trusting him to deliver on his promise of squeaky-clean government, a crackdown on crime and lower taxes. But they also put him on a tight leash, holding the Tories to minority - meaning Harper will have to rely on the support of at least one opposition party to get anything done.
Collectively, the Liberals and the NDP won more seats than the Conservatives, setting up the possibility they could seek to form a coalition government, but the Liberals ruled that out.
The Tory leader won the election aided by gains in Ontario and a Liberal collapse of historic proportions in Quebec. But he failed to capture a single seat in the country's three biggest cities -- Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver indicating a stubborn urban-rural divide.
Harper also dealt a political death blow to Prime Minister Paul Martin, 67, who immediately announced his stepping down as Liberal leader, triggering a race to lead the party.
Harper was greeted by jubilant crowd of supporters in Calgary.
"Tonight friends, our great country has voted for change and Canadians have asked our party to take the lead in delivering that change," he said. "We will honour your trust, we will deliver on our commitments."
Martin urged Liberals to be proud of the party's accomplishments - and bide their time. "We not only believed, we acted on the belief that Canada is strongest as a nation and we endeavoured to ensure that no Canadian is ever left behind," he said in his Quebec riding of LaSalle-Emard.
"There will be another chance, there will be another time." But he added that they'll have to fight the next battle without him.
"My dedication to the Liberal family will never wane but I will not take our party into another election."
