Canadian PM Trudeau Bags 3rd Term Victory

Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau has secured a third election victory, but his decision to call a snap election was criticised by political opponents, and even allies, after he failed once again to win a parliamentary majority.

Though Trudeau will stay in power, he did not win the majority his Party had hoped for after calling a snap election. On Tuesday morning, the Liberals were leading with 158 seats, 12 short of the 170 needed for a majority in the parliament.

Erin O’Toole’s opposition Conservatives won 119, a result that largely mirrored the outcome of the 2019 election. “It looks like nobody wanted an election and no one got what they wanted,” said the Toronto Star political columnist Chantal Hébert as results came in.

For the second time in two years, Trudeau was handed a minority government by Canadians, meaning he will have to reach across the aisle to work with smaller parties in order to govern.

In his victory speech at 1.15 in the morning, Trudeau nonetheless told supporters that Canadians had given him a “clear mandate” to continue governing, but acknowledged that his election gambit had not been popular.

“I hear you when you say that you just want to get back to the things you love, not worry about this pandemic or about an election. That you just want to know that your members of parliament of all stripes will have your back through this crisis and beyond,” he said.

According to him; “The moment we face demands real important change. You have given this parliament and this government clear direction.”

But the gamble to call a federal election during the fourth wave of the coronavirus pandemic is likely to produce friction among Liberals. As of Tuesday morning, three of Trudeau’s cabinet ministers had failed to win re-election.

Across the country, a number of Liberal candidates were forced to compete in tightly contested races, often eking out narrow victories.