

Archived Seat Projections
Conservatives Remain on Top
The following seat projection is based upon a blended sample of three weighted polls conducted by Ipsos, Nanos and Harris-Decima from March 10 to March 20. The aggregate sample includes approximately 4000 respondents. It suggests that the basic pattern of party preference has been quite stable over the past six weeks. This projection assumes an 8% Conservative lead in Ontario, down 1 point since the previous projection. There have been a few other small shifts since the last LISPOP projection, the Conservatives up a bit in the Atlantic region and down somewhat in the west, especially BC. However most of that can be accounted for by sampling error, which has been true of the overall national pattern since early February.
Projected distribution of seats by party and region, released March 24, 2011
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Other |
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| Canada | 151 |
72 |
34 |
51 |
-- |
| 2008 Election Results | 143 |
77 |
37 |
49 |
2 |
| Atlantic provinces | 15 |
13 |
4 |
-- |
-- |
| 2008 Election Results | 10 |
17 |
4 |
-- |
1 |
| Quebec | 9 |
14 |
1 |
51 |
-- |
| 2008 Election Results | 10 |
14 |
1 |
49 |
1 |
| Ontario | 55 |
35 |
16 |
-- |
-- |
| 2008 Election Results | 51 |
38 |
17 |
-- |
-- |
| Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and territories | 25 |
3 |
3 |
-- |
-- |
| 2008 Election Results | 23 |
3 |
5 |
-- |
-- |
| Alberta | 27 |
1 |
-- |
-- |
-- |
| 2008 Election Results | 27 |
-- |
1 |
-- |
-- |
| British Columbia | 20 |
7 |
9 |
-- |
-- |
| 2008 Election Results | 22 |
5 |
9 |
-- |
-- |
Note:
The "regional swing model" is more fully explained in a paper originally prepared and presented by Dr. Barry Kay to the 1990 annual meeting of the Canadian Political Science Association, entitled "Improving Upon the Cube Law: A Regional Swing Model for Converting Canadian Popular Vote into Parliamentary Seats". It should be noted that the application of the model above does not make use of the "incumbency effect" described in that paper. In tests for past elections, using late campaign polls to project electoral outcomes, the model has proved to be accurate within an average of four seats per party since 1963. Readers interested in post-dictions for past federal elections dating back to 1963, for projections using pre-election polls dating back to the 1980 federal election and for three Ontario provincial elections, may contact me at bkay@wlu.ca.