Canada election results: Trudeau expected to maintain grip on power in minority government after fraught election against Scheer
Latest updates from a night of relief and political redemption for Justin Trudeau
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Your support makes all the difference.Justin Trudeau is projected to retain power in the Canada's parliamentary elections, with a likely minority government forming after his Liberal Party shed seats in the country's parliament.
After a vicious campaign season known more for its scandals and vicious attacks than policy, the Liberals walked away from Monday's election with 157 seats — just 13 shiy of a majority.
New Democrat leader Jagmeet Singh said he had congratulated Mr Trudeau on winning the most seats and said his party would be a constructive participant in the new parliament.
While it is clearly good news for Mr Trudeau — who has been politically redeemed to some extent after repeated scandal throughout the past year — the sharing of power with the New Democrats will undoubtedly make it difficult to pass legislation in the years ahead.
Conservatives walked away with 121 seats, while Bloc Québécois got 32 seats, and the Green Party got three. The New Democratic Party secured 24 seats.
Mr Trudeau's victory also shows a marked drop in support for the progressive leader, who was swept into power in 2015 promising "real change" in the form of several progressive pledges.
In addition to his scandals, Mr Trudeau has faced criticism for his ability to follow through on those pledges including on the environment, a record that was undercut because he came out in support of the Trans Mountain oil pipeline expansion project.
He also abandoned a federal electoral reform plan, which was a favourite of left-leaning voters.
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CBC News host Michael Serapio has given his take on the individual winners and losers from this year’s election, which saw a number of political heavyweights voted out of office.
One of the big stories of election night was the success of Jody Wilson-Raybould, who won as an independent candidate in Vancouver, British Columbia, after she was expelled from the Liberals by Mr Trudeau.
Ms Wilson-Raybould was kicked out of the party for going public with her complaints over Mr Trudeau’s role in the SNC-Lavalin scandal when she was Canada’s attorney general.
Her victory has been seen as vindication for her decision to publicly challenge the prime minister.
Source: Associated Press
Mr Trudeau is up. The prime minister is still in celebration mode with his first tweet of the day, but he must know that the next few weeks will be difficult for his party as they try to form a new government.
Here’s how investors have reacted to Mr Trudeau’s victory.
Reuters has reported:
“The Canadian dollar weakened against its US counterpart on Tuesday after domestic data showed a surprise drop in retail sales and as investors worried that a minority government would make building of new oil pipelines more difficult.
“At 9.07 am (1307 GMT), the Canadian dollar was trading 0.2 per cent lower at 1.3111 to the greenback, or 76.27 US cents.
“Earlier in the session, the currency notched its strongest since 22 July at 1.3071.”
Members of Canada’s energy industry are worried about an alliance between the Liberals and left-leaning parties, such as the NDP, that support climate change initiatives and oppose the oil industry.
There has been talk of electoral reform from the left and right of Canadian politics today and this table from Elections Canada shows why.
Under Canada’s “first past the post” system, the Liberals were able to win 46.4 per cent of seats with just 33.1 per cent of the popular vote.
Meanwhile, the Conservatives won 35.8 per cent of seats with 34.4 per cent of the popular vote.
The big losers from the current electoral system were the Green Party and the NDP, who both saw poor seat totals for their vote share.
Source: Elections Canada
Here are some more congratulation messages for Mr Trudeau’s Liberals – this time, they come from India’s Narendra Modi and the EU’s Guy Verhofstadt.
The Bank of Canada has released its autumn Business Outlook Survey, which indicates business sentiment in the country has improved slightly.
The report comes after the Canadian dollar weakened earlier today, amid industry concerns about a potential alliance between the Liberals and left-leaning parties.
Imran Khan, Pakistan’s prime minister, has also tweeted to congratulate Mr Trudeau on his victory.
There does not appear to be any statement from Emmanuel Macron, who had a notably warm relationship with Mr Trudeau in his first term, on the result yet – although he seems to be on an overseas trip at the moment.
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