No, I don't think that's it.

The lesson is that social democratic parties should not play footsie with socialist parties, because they end up being overtaken by them.

Memo to the ALP - stop playing footsie with the Greens

It could be that the defiantly sceptical attitude towards 'anthropogenic global warming' and its attendant taxes and regulations shown by Stephen Harper and the Conservatives played an important role in the election too. If I lived in a country that was snowbound six months of the year, I wouldn't be keen about spending my money to 'prevent' global warming -- even if I believed it would work.