It was ten-years ago today that Stephen Harper made history, leading his Conservatives to a resounding majority victory in the 2011 election. When the votes were counted Canada’s, Tories had won 166 seats. In the two previous campaigns (2006 and 2008) Mr. Harper and his party had been held to minority status in the Commons, though still forming the government both times. The late Jack Layton's New Democrats also made history in the 2011 election, forming the Official Opposition after winning 103 seats. Stephane Dion's Liberals were reduced to only 34 seats, the worst showing in the Party’s history. So, happy tenth anniversary today to the Rt. Hon. Stephen Harper as he and his team mark this milestone anniversary.  You can watch Mr. Harper’s victory speech from that historic evening here. It is also important to note that it was on this date in 1980 that Conservative MP Pat Carney made history, introducing to the House of Commons her bill that would have prohibited discrimination in Canada on the grounds of sexual orientation. While the bill didn't pass it was still a historic milestone along the road to equality as the first-ever such bill to be proposed. An important anniversary for all Canadians to recall, and a great credit to Ms. Carney. caption id="attachment_555552" align="aligncenter" width="440" Prime Minister Stephen Harper celebrates his 2011 election victory/caption Arthur Milnes is an accomplished public historian and award-winning journalist.  He was research assistant on The Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney’s best-selling Memoirs and also served as a speechwriter to then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper and as a Fellow of the Queen’s Centre for the Study of Democracy under the leadership of Tom Axworthy.  A resident of Kingston, Ontario, Milnes serves as the in-house historian at the 175 year-old Frontenac Club Hotel.