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TORONTO (AP) – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party won the parliamentary election but failed to secure the majority it wanted in a vote focused on the coronavirus pandemic but which many Canadians considered as unnecessary.
Trudeau entered Monday’s election as the head of a stable minority government that was not in danger of overthrow – but he hoped Canadians would reward him with a majority for handling the pandemic better than many other leaders . Still, Trudeau struggled to justify why he called the election early given the virus, and the opposition has repeatedly accused him of staging the vote two years ahead of the deadline for his own personal ambition. .
In the end, the bet was not won and the results almost mirrored those of two years ago. The Liberal Party led or was elected in 156 seats – one fewer than in 2019, and 14 fewer of the 170 needed for a majority in the House of Commons.
The Conservatives were either in the lead or elected in 121 seats, the same number they won in 2019. The left-wing New Democrats were in the lead or elected in 27 seats, a gain of three seats, while the Bloc Québécois remained unchanged with 32 seats and the Greens were down to two.
“You send us back to work with a clear mandate to help Canada navigate this pandemic,” Trudeau said. “I hear you when you say you just want to get back to the things you love and not worry about this pandemic or an election.”
But experts noted that was not the victory Trudeau hoped for.
“Trudeau lost his bet to get the majority, so I would say it’s a bittersweet victory for him,” said Daniel Béland, professor of political science at McGill University in Montreal.
“Basically we are back to square one, because the new minority parliament will look like the previous one. Trudeau and the Liberals saved their skin and will stay in power, but many Canadians who did not want a pandemic election at the end of the summer are probably not amused by the whole situation, ”he said.
Trudeau bet Canadians didn’t want a Conservative government during a pandemic, playing on his own party’s successes. Canada has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world, and the Trudeau government has spent hundreds of billions of dollars to support the economy amid the lockdowns. Trudeau argued that the Conservatives’ approach, which has been skeptical of lockdowns and vaccination mandates, would be dangerous.
Trudeau is in favor of making vaccines mandatory for Canadians traveling by plane or train, which the Conservatives are opposed to.
And he pointed out that Alberta, led by a Conservative provincial government, is in crisis. Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said the province could run out of intensive care unit beds and staff within days. Kenney has apologized for the dire situation and now reluctantly introduces a vaccination passport and imposes a mandatory work-at-home order two months after lifting nearly all restrictions.
Conservative leader Erin O’Toole, meanwhile, did not demand that her party’s candidates be vaccinated and did not say how many were not. O’Toole has described vaccination as a personal health decision, but a growing number of vaccinated Canadians are increasingly unhappy with those who refuse to be vaccinated.
“The vaccination debate and Trudeau’s clash against the anti-vaccination mob helped the Liberals save a campaign that did not start well for the party,” Beland said.
Nelson Wiseman, professor of political science at the University of Toronto, said the Conservatives were affected by the situation in Alberta.
“The outbreak of the pandemic in Alberta over the past 10 days has undermined O’Toole’s compliments to the Alberta Conservatives on how they had handled the pandemic and reinforced Trudeau’s argument for compulsory vaccinations, ”he said.
Trudeau, 49, channeled the star power of his father, liberal icon and late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, when he first won the election in 2015 and led his party to the top in two elections since .
A Conservative victory would have represented a reprimand of Trudeau by a politician with a fraction of his name recognition. O’Toole, 47, is a military veteran, former lawyer and nine-year MP.
“Canadians did not give Mr. Trudeau the majority mandate he wanted,” said O’Toole. Conservative campaign co-chair Walied Soliman said earlier that keeping Trudeau in a minority government would be a victory.
O’Toole said he was more determined than ever to keep going, but his party could dump him like he did the previous leader who failed to beat Trudeau in 2019.
O’Toole introduced himself a year ago as a “true blue conservative”. He became leader of the Conservative Party with a pledge to “take back Canada”, but immediately began to work to push the party towards the political center.
O’Toole’s strategy, which included disavowing his party’s cherished grassroots positions on issues such as climate change, guns and balanced budgets, was designed to appeal to a wider range of people. voters in a country that tends to be much more liberal than its neighbor to the south.
Whether moderate Canadians believed O’Toole was the progressive conservative he claims to be and whether he alienated mainstream conservatives became central questions of the campaign.
Regina Adshade, a 28-year-old software developer in Vancouver, said she was disturbed that an election was called early, during a pandemic and with wildfires in British Columbia. But that didn’t stop her from voting liberal because the party represents her values.
“I don’t like that there was an election right now, but it wasn’t going to change my vote,” she said.
Trudeau’s legacy includes the adoption of immigration at a time when the United States and other countries have closed their doors. He also legalized cannabis nationwide and instituted a carbon tax to fight climate change. And he preserved the free trade deal with the United States and Mexico amid threats from former US President Donald Trump to cancel the deal.
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Associated Press writer Jim Morris in Vancouver, British Columbia, contributed to this report.
(Copyright (c) 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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