Canada election results: Harper vows “no suprises” after Tories’ crushing victory (UPDATES)

Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada said he would taking a no-surprises approach to majority government rather than contemplating radical shifts in policy, after the Conservatives won a major victory in Monday's Canadian elections.

The Conservatives' 40 percent win will, however, enable them to move forward with their pro-business agenda.

"Canadian politics has changed dramatically tonight," Jason Kenney, immigration minister in the last Conservative government, told Reuters. "Canadians have gotten what they want: a stable majority which will focus on governing and economic growth and responsible fiscal policy."

Provisional results show that Conservatives will have 166 seats in Parliament, putting them well above the 155 seats they needed to be the majority party, according to Reuters.

It was the first time Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper had won a majority of seats in Parliament.

Conservatives ran on plans to balance the budget and introduce a string of tax cuts. They also emphasized the need to win a majority in Parliament to bolster the economy.

Harper said he believes Canadians expected the Tories to adhere to their campaign promises — and to continue governing the way they did during a half decade of minority government, according to the Globe and Mail.

“We got that mandate because of the way we have governed, because of our record,” he reportedly said during a press conference in Calgary. “Canadians expect us to continue to move forward in the same way, to be true to the platform we’ve run on and be true to the kind of values and policies we’ve laid out before them."

Bloomberg reported that: "The victory in the national election ends seven years of minority governments that have fueled government spending, and may make it easier for Harper to open up industries to foreign investment. Throughout the campaign, Harper said he needed a majority to secure the country’s recovery."

The official opposition will now be the left-leaning New Democratic Party, which provisional results showed won around 103 seats.

The election faced a new media controversy Monday when Twitter users posted results before all polls closed, the Canadian Press reports.

Results from the East of the country leaked on Twitter before polling stations closed in western Canada. A 73-year-old election law prohibits the transmission of results until the polls have all closed.

It remains to be seen how Elections Canada will handle the Twitter episode.