National elections in Canada are really 308 simultaneous elections held across the country at the same time. The 2008 general election was conducted using the same 308 ridings contested in the 2006 & 2004 elections; by contrast there were 301 constituencies in the 1997 and 2000 elections. The 2006 elections were conducted with the same electoral boundaries used in the 2004, with the exception of two constituencies in New Brunswick: Acadie–Bathurst and Miramichi. Note that a few ridings have new names since 2004, but their boundaries have remained intact.

Perhaps the most interesting ridings in any election are the marginal seats, which were won by less than 5% in the previous election. Thus, attention focused in 2008 on the 49 marginal seats up for grabs in the current elections. Marginal seats had an impact on the outcome of the 2006 election, particularly because the Liberal Party suffered significant net losses among those ridings.

Elections Canada published a final final list of candidates after the close of registration on Sep 22, 2008. As of Sep 26, the NDP  lost 4 candidates since the start of the campaign, the Liberals 3, the Conservatives 2, and the Green Party dropped one just days before the official start of the campaign, and one Green candidate pulled herself out of the race on Oct 9.. Candidates that withdrew prior to Sep 22 could be replaced; see the details below. The NDP's candidate in Saanich-Gulf Islands in BC, Julian West, withdrew on Sep 23 and could not be replaced; his name remained on the ballot but he did no further campaigning. Lesley Highes also withdrew on Sep 26 as a Lberal candidate in Kildonan-St. Paul (Manitoba) after the deadline.

Statistics Canada provides detailed maps and riding profiles based on data from the 2006 Census. You will find data on age, gender, education, ethnic origin, immigration linguistic groups, income and occupations.  With this information you can get a real flavour for the distinct communities in specific constituencies. An Excel file with data on gender and incumbency for all the registered candidates is available here.

Incumbent MPs have something of an advantage in elections, since they have had the benefit of experience and the public exposure that comes with serving in office. As a result, interesting contests occur in ridings where the sitting MP has decided not to run again. CBC provides an interactive map showing the 34 ridings in the 2008 election where no incumbent is running. Another 9 MPs had called it quits earlier this year but have already been replaced in byelections.

Elections Canada sets a limit that can be spent by each candidate that depends upon the number of registered voters in each riding. The preliminary candidate spending limits are now available, but final limits are still to be determined.

Milton Chan runs a unique site providing riding-by-riding predictions of the contests in each constituency for national and provincial elections  This site relies on people submitting their assessment of ridings that they have local knowledge of. Connect to the site and add your two cents worth! Both this service and UBC's Elections Stock Market have been uncannily accurate in the past, beating out seat projections by professional polling agencies.

Since our electoral system is created around local elections, one would think that local candidates would play an important role in people's decision about whom to vote for. However, opinion polls have consistently found that Canadian voters overwhelmingly decide how to vote on the basis of party leaders or platforms. This trend was evident in an Ekos poll released at the start of the 2008 campaign, in which less than 9% of respondents claimed that the local candidate is the main factor in their decision. An Ipsos poll conducted Sep 17-18 asked a somewhat different question but still found only 17% saying that local candidates were their most important consideration. You can read an interesting academic paper on the importance of individual candidates: "Does the Local Candidate Matter?" (pdf file) by André Blais, Elisabeth Gidengil, Agnieszka Dobrzynska, Richard Nadeau, Neil Nevitte.

 Riding-by-Riding Election Results
 

Readjustment of Electoral Boundaries
 

Each decade independent Electoral Boundaries Commissions are set up to review the distribution of seats in the House of Commons to ensure that the number and size of each province's constituencies meets the legal requirements.  The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled, in the Electoral Boundaries Reference case, that Canadians should have a relatively equal voting power. As a result, the number of voters per constituency should not normally vary more than + or - 25% from the average. From time- to time, new ridings are added, and at others the seats are redistributed among the provinces.  The methods used to allocate seats among the provinces and to draw boundaries has changed considerably over the years. The previous readjustment of electoral boundaries was done in time to come into effect for the 1997 general elections.  Prior to 1985, adjustments to federal boundaries were achieved by amending the British North America Act, 1867; since 1985, however, the changes are incorporated into ordinary law. Section 51(1) of the Constitution Act, 1867 and Electoral Boundaries Adjustment Act governs the process currently used.

However, riding populations can shift dramatically within short periods of time. You can look up the differences in the populations of each riding, to see how they have changed between the 2001 and 2006 Census. Just in this 5 year period, the population changes range from -7.6% in BC's Skeena - Bulkley Valley to a whopping 52.5% in Ontario's Oak Ridges - Markham. StatsCan has a sortable table of population and dwelling statistics for all the federal ridings. You can also download an Excel file with all the population and dwelling data for Canada's electoral districts.

Because the boundaries of electoral districts changed between the 2000 and 2004 elections it is necessary to transpose the results on a poll-by-poll basis before you can compare the results on a riding-by-riding basis. You to see how the 2000 elections results would have been under the new 308 seat distribution (Adobe pdf file). Elections Canada also can show what the results would have been on a riding by riding basis.

Candidates dropped from the 2008 elections

The following candidates were dropped by their parties during the campaign:

Oct 9: Green candidate Danielle Moreau in Longueuil-Pierre-Boucher (QC); stopped active campaigning and threw her personal support behind the Liberal candidate in order to avoid splitting the vote.

Oct 4: NDP Andrew McKeever in Durham (ON); withdrew after obsence comments he had made shortly prior to the campaign about other participants in a Facebook debate on US war resisters.

Sep 26: Liberal Lesley Hughes from Kildonan-St. Paul (Manitoba); dropped after the deadline and her name remains on the ballot. She had previously made comments about a 9/11 conspiracy in which Jewish firms supposedly had advance warning and left the World Trade Center before it was hit. She has continued to campaign and says she will sit as an Independent if elected.

Sep 24: NDP Julian West from Saanich-gulf Islands (BC) ; dropped after the deadline and his name remains on the ballot. An old controversy erupted concerning his skinny dipping in front of teenagers during an environmental camp he had run.

Sep 21: Conservative Chris Reid in the riding of Toronto Centre (ON); he had written in a blog about the need to carry concealed weapons after the bus beheading, and also dcirticized the other passengers for standing by during th eattack.

Sep 19: New Democrat Kirk Tousaw in Vancouver-Quadra (BC); a video was circulated showing him taking drugs.

Sep 17: New Democrat Dana Larsen from West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country (BC); a video was circulated showing him taking drugs, and he had a connection with an online company selling marijuanna and other drug seeds.

Sep 11: Liberal Simon Bedard in Quebec (QC); he had written negative comments about aboriginals after the Oka crisis

Sep 11: Liberal Ricardo Lopez from Beauharnois-Salaberry (QC); he had made disparaging comments about aboriginals

Sep 9: Conservative Rosamond Luke in Halifax (NS); she had two criminal convictions that had apparently not been reported.
 

Just days prior to the formal issuing of the writs for the election on Sep 7, the Green Party lost a candidate:

Sep 4: John Shavluk in Newton-North Delta (BC) for anti-semetic remarks.