The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Trudeau wins reelection, faces a divided country
Prime minister’s Liberal Party loses majority in Parliament.
Canadian
TORONTO, ONTARIO — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was reelected in a stronger-than-expected showing in Monday’s national elections. But while his Liberal Party took the most seats in Parliament, it lost its majority
and will have to rely on an opposition party to get anything passed.
With results still trickling in, 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.
How the west wasn’t won
While Trudeau claimed a “clear mandate,” his party won fewer raw votes nationally than the Conservatives did and failed to win a single seat in the western provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan, where the Conservatives dominated.
The prime minister struck a conciliatory note in an early morning address: “To Canadians in Alberta and Saskatchewan, know that you are an essential part of our great country. I have heard your frustration, and I want to be there to support you. Let us all work hard to bring our country together.”
There is growing outrage in Alberta, home to the third-largest oil reserves in the world, over Trudeau’s inability to get a pipeline built to the Pacific Coast. At the same time, Trudeau said Canadians elected a government that will fight climate change. That means he will keep a national carbon tax in place that has also angered western Canada.
Rivals emboldened
Conservative rival Andrew Scheer said the results showed Trudeau was much weakened since his 2015 election.
“Conservatives have put Justin Trudeau on notice,” Scheer said. “And Mr. Trudeau, when your government falls, Conservatives will be ready, and we will win.”
The vote was further divided by the electoral success of the separatist Bloc Quebecois in the French-speaking province of Quebec. The Bloc won 32 of the province’s 78 districts, up from 10.
How Trudeau’s stock declined
Trudeau, 47, prevailed after a series of scandals that tarnished his image as a liberal icon.
Old photos of him in blackface and brownface surfaced last month, and Trudeau was also accused of bullying his female attorney general into dropping the prosecution of a Canadian engineering company.
Also, environmentalists have accused him of betrayal for spending billions to buy the pipeline in a so-far unsuccessful bid to get the stalled project moving again.