Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper won a majority of seats in Parliament for the first time, giving his Conservative Party a mandate to bolster the economic recovery with additional tax cuts and erase the country's deficit with curbs on government spending.

Harper's party won 167 of 308 districts, according to results posted on Election Canada's website as of 10:09 a.m. New York time. Jack Layton's pro-labor New Democratic Party won 102 seats to form the official opposition, followed by 34 for the Liberal Party led by Michael Ignatieff, four for the Bloc Quebecois and one for the Green Party.

The victory ends seven years of minority governments that have fueled government spending, and puts the Conservatives in control of the federal agenda for the first time since the early 1990s. Harper pledged to balance Canada's budget by 2014 after running record deficits during the recession, even as he moves ahead with personal and corporate income tax cuts to help sustain the expansion.

"Having a majority government that can pass a coherent plan is very reassuring to the market," said Paul Ma, who manages about C$500 million ($528 million) at McLean & Partners in Calgary. "It's great for investors."

David Fuller's view This result will obviously appeal to fiscal conservatives and as a resources market, Canada should maintain its relative performance more often than not. Currently, the TSX Composite is in a period of mean reversion towards its rising 200-day moving average.