I think the NDP ran a horrible campaign.    That more than anything resulted in their loss of seats simply because many Canadian voters did not want to waste a vote and risk Harper coming up the middle.    You seem to have clearly forgotten how Harper achieved his majority in 2011 (besides buying the vote via the "Action Plan").     You also seem to discount who had by far the most money to spend in the longest writ period in Canadian history:   i.e. the CPC (not to mention their priming the pump using tax dollars and Govt ads up until the hour the writ dropped).