New Delhi: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau returned to power on Monday but failed to win a majority. Trudeau was contesting against a rookie conservative leader.
The Liberal Party won the most seats, compared to any other party, but the results were similar to the election two years earlier.
Thank you, Canada — for casting your vote, for placing your faith in the Liberal team, for choosing a brighter future. We are going to end the fight against COVID. And we’re going to pursue Canada. for all.
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) September 21, 2021
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You (Canadians) are sending us back to work with a clear mandate so that we can overcome this pandemic in the days to come.”
“That’s exactly what we set out to do,” he said.
Trudeau’s Liberals were leading or elected in 157 seats, the exact same number he won in 2019, 13 short of the 170 needed for a majority in the House of Commons, according to the AP.
The Conservatives were leading or were elected in 121 seats, the same number they won in 2019. The left-wing New Democrats were leading or were elected at 29, a gain of five seats, while Quebec-based bloc Quebec was three down on 28 and the Greens two seats.
However, after nearly six years in power, his administration is showing signs of fatigue. It was an uphill battle for him to persuade Canadians to stick to the Liberals after falling short of the high expectations set in their resounding 2015 victory.
Trudeau’s rival Conservative leader Erin O’Toole was not required to vaccinate her party’s candidates and would not say how many were unconvinced. It is likely that Canadians did not want a Conservative government during a pandemic.
Canada is now one of the most fully immunized countries in the world after Trudeau’s government spent billions of dollars to keep the economy afloat during the lockdown, the AP reports.
Trudeau argued that the conservatives’ approach to the pandemic would be dangerous because he was skeptical of the lockdown and vaccine mandate. He said Canadians need a government that follows science. Conservative leader O’Toole described vaccination as a personal health decision, but a growing number of vaccinated Canadians are upset by those who refuse to be vaccinated.
Furthermore, Trudeau was popular for embracing immigration at a time when the US and other countries closed their doors. He legalized cannabis nationwide and brought a carbon tax to fight climate change. He also protected free trade agreements with the US and Mexico amid threats from former US President Donald Trump to scrap the deal.
While O’Toole, 47, a military veteran, former lawyer and member of parliament for nine years, advertised himself a year ago as a true-blue Conservative. O’Toole’s strategy, which included disapproved positions near his party’s base on issues such as climate change, guns, and a balanced budget, was designed to appeal to a broad cross-section of voters in a country that which was far more generous than its southern neighbor.
“It’s not a polarizing election. There are actually a lot of groups in the middle,” Max Cameron, a professor of politics at the University of British Columbia, told AFP.
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