Canadians gave Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party a victory in Monday’s parliamentary elections. According to projections by Canadian Press, it was unclear whether his gamble to win a majority of seats paid off.
The Liberals were projected to win the most seats of any party. The 49-year-old Trudeau channeled the star power of his father, the Liberal icon. Late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau when he first won election in 2015 and appeared to have led his party to the top finish in two elections since.
Trudeau bet Canadians didn’t want a Conservative government during a pandemic. Trudeau’s government spent hundreds of billions of dollars to prop up the economy amid lockdowns. He argued that the Conservatives’ approach, which has been skeptical of lockdowns and vaccine mandates. Also says Canadians need a government that follows science.
Trudeau supports making vaccines mandatory for Canadians to travel by air or rail, something the Conservatives oppose. And Trudeau has pointed out that Alberta, run by a Conservative provincial government, is in crisis.
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, an ally of O’Toole, said the province might run out of beds and staff for intensive care units within days.
A Conservative would have represented a rebuke of Trudeau against a politician with a fraction of his name recognition. O’Toole, 47, is a military veteran, former lawyer, and a member of Parliament for nine years.
O’Toole advertised himself a year ago as a “true-blue Conservative.” He became Conservative Party leader with a pledge to “take back Canada,” but immediately started working to push the party toward the political center.
Whether moderate Canadians believed O’Toole is the progressive conservative he claims to be and whether he alienated traditional Conservatives became central questions of the campaign.
The opposition has been relentless in accusing Trudeau of calling an unnecessary early vote — two years before the deadline — for his own personal ambition. Trudeau entered the election leading a stable minority government that wasn’t under threat of being toppled.
Adrian Archambault, a 53-year-old Vancouver resident, voted Liberal and said he didn’t mind the election was held during a pandemic. He noted provincial elections have also happened during the pandemic.
“Everybody has been so preoccupied with COVID the last few years it wasn’t maybe a bad thing to sort of do a re-check,” he said.
Trudeau’s legacy includes embracing immigration at a time when the U.S. and other countries closed their doors. He also legalized cannabis nationwide and brought in a carbon tax to fight climate change. And he preserved free trade deal with the U.S. and Mexico amid threats by former U.S. President Donald Trump to scrap the agreement.
Former U.S. President Barack Obama and ex-Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton tweeted support for Trudeau. There wasn’t a Trump endorsement of O’Toole. Conservative campaign co-chair Walied Soliman said there is no alignment whatsoever between O’Toole and Trumpism.
Stay tuned with Artifex.News for further updates. Stay Connected, Stay Informed!
Image Credit: Wikipedia
