Trudeau wins Canada election but loses majority in parliament
● Liberals fail even to win most votes ● Premier appeals for reconciliation
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has won a second term in Canada’s national elections, losing his majority but insisting he has been given a clear mandate despite an increasingly divided Parliament.
Trudeau’s Liberal Party took the most seats in Parliament but fell short of a majority, so the Liberals will have to rely on an opposition party to pass legislation.
His early morning address to supporters came, unusually, as his Conservative rival, Andrew Scheer, had just begun speaking to his own supporters, forcing networks to pull away from Mr Scheer’s speech.
But the prime minister struck a conciliatory note. “To those who did not vote for us, know that we will work every single day for you, we will govscheer ern for everyone,” Mr Trudeau said.
With results still coming in yesterday, the Liberals had 157 seats – 13 short of the 170 needed for a majority in the 338-seat House of Commons – while the Conservatives had 121.
Mr Trudeau’s Liberal Party won fewer raw votes nationally than the Conservatives did, and his party failed to win a single seat in the western provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan where the Conservatives dominated.
The prime minister showed up at a Montreal subway station yesterday to greet Canadians and take selfies.
He said Canadians rejected division and negativity and elected a progressive agenda.
But in what was supposed to be a concession speech, the Conservative leader Mr Scheer said the results showed Mr Trudeau was much weakened since his 2015 election, when pundits had predicted the beginning of another Trudeau dynasty after a decade of Conservative government.
“Conservatives have put Justin Trudeau on notice,” Mr said. “And Mr Trudeau, when your government falls, Conservatives will be ready and we will win.”
Mr Trudeau delivered an unexpectedly strong result despite a series of scandals that tarnished his image as a liberal icon.
“It’s not quite the same as 2015,” when Mr Trudeau first took office .“it’ s not allowing to the leader,” said Robert Bothwell, a professor of Canadian history and international relations at the University of Toronto.
“Trudeau is prime minister because the rest of the party was able to pull itself together and prevail. While Trudeau certainly deserves credit for what has happened he’s really going to have to demonstrate qualities that he hasn’t yet shown.”
Mr Trudeau’s clean-cut image had taken a hit after old photos of him in blackface and brownface surfaced last month.
“I’m surprised at how well Trudeau has done,” said Nelson Wiseman, a political science professor at the University of Toronto. “I don’t think anybody expected Trudeau to get a majority, but they are not that far off.”
Perhaps sensing Mr Trudeau was in trouble, Barack Obama made an unprecedented endorsement by a former American president in urging Canadians to re-elect him. The son of liberal icon and late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau is one of the few remaining progressive world leaders in the Trump era.
The unassuming Mr Scheer, 40, is a career politician who was seen as a possible antidote to Mr Trudeau’s flash. But Mr Both well said that he expected Mr Scheer to resign.
“He’s gone,” Bothwell said. “He ran a really dirty campaign. There is nothing to be proud of on his side. He had the opportunity and blew it.”
Among other things, Mr Scheer called Mr Trudeau a phony who couldn’t even remember how many times he had worn blackface.
Mr Scheer suggested he would try to stay on as Conservative leader.