2006 promise made by Harper to end the Prime Minister's ability to call snap elections. On September 17, 2009, the Federal Court of Canada ruled that the election was not unfair, and therefore not illegal. Democracy Watch's appeal to the Federal Court of Appeal was also dismissed, and the Supreme Court denied leave to hear a further appeal. Target seats The following is a list of ridings which had narrowly been lost by the indicated party in the 2006 election. For instance, under the Liberal column are the 15 seats in which they came closest to winning but did not. Listed is the name of the riding, followed by the party which was victorious (in parentheses) and the margin, in terms of percentage of the vote, by which the party lost. These ridings were targeted by the specified party because the party had lost them by a very slim margin in the 2006 election. Up to 15 are shown, with a maximum margin of victory of 15%. * Indicates incumbent not running again. To clarify further; this is a list of federal election winners with their party in parentheses, and their margin as a percentage of the vote over the party whose list the seat is on (not the same as the margin of victory if the party potentially "targeting" the seat in that list did not finish second in the previous election). "Won" means that the targeting party won the seat from the incumbent party. "Held" means the incumbent party held the seat. The Green Party of Canada did not come within 15% of winning any riding in the 2006 election, but came 9.0% short of winning London North Centre, ON (Lib) in a November 2006 by-election. Targeted Cabinet ministers The following Cabinet ministers were elected by a margin of less than 10% in 2006: Tony Clement, Health and Federal Economic Initiative for Northern Ontario: 0.1% over Lib in Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON Lawrence Cannon, Transport, Infrastructure and Communities: 5.0% over BQ in Pontiac, QC Jim Flaherty, Finance: 5.7% over Lib in Whitby—Oshawa, ON Rob Nicholson, Justice: 5.9% over Lib in Niagara Falls, ON Peter MacKay, Defence and Atlantic Opportunities: 7.8% over NDP in Central Nova, NS John Baird, Environment: 9.0% over Lib in Ottawa West—Nepean, ON Potential fall of government On December 1, 2008, as the result of opposition dissatisfaction with the government's economic update (which failed to include