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Justin Trudeau elected new Canadian prime minister as Liberals sweep board Justin Trudeau elected new Canadian prime minister as Liberals return to power
(about 1 hour later)
Justin Trudeau, the son of one of Canada’s most charismatic politicians, will be Canada’s next leader, after a dramatic federal election in which the prime minister, Stephen Harper, lost his parliamentary majority and nine years of often-unpopular rule by the centre-right Conservatives came to an end. Justin Trudeau, the son of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, will be Canada’s next leader, after a dramatic federal election that ended the divisive reign of the Conservative prime minister, Stephen Harper.
Related: Canada election: Trudeau's Liberals set to defeat Harper and Conservatives – live Related: Canada election: Trudeau hails Liberal win as Harper steps down as leader – live
Polls had only just closed in Ontario and Quebec when the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation called the election for Trudeau, based on a near-wholesale collapse of support for the left-wing New Democratic party (NDP), as well as a powerful Liberal surge. Trudeau’s Liberal party leaped from third place in opinion polls to a decisive victory in Monday’s vote, taking 184 of the parliament’s 338 seats, and roughly 40% of the popular vote.
Speaking at Liberal headquarters in Montreal, Trudeau said: “This is what positive politics can do. This is what a positive, hopeful, a hopeful vision, and a platform and a team together can make happen. “This is what positive politics can do. This is what a hopeful vision and platform and team can make happen,” a hoarse but jubilant Trudeau told cheering supporters at Liberal headquarters in Montreal’s Queen Elizabeth hotel.
“Canadians from all across this great country sent a clear message tonight, it’s time for a change in this country, my friends, a real change,” he told supporters. “You can appeal to the better angels of our nature, and you can win while doing it.”
In his concession speech before a despondent Calgary crowd Monday night Harper did not formally announce his resignation, instead focussing on thanking his supporters. Switching between French and English, Trudeau held out an olive branch to his defeated rivals after a vicious and divisive campaign. “As I’ve said many times over the course of this campaign, conservatives are not our enemies, they’re our neighbors,” he said.
“We put it all on the line, we gave everything we have to give, and we have no regrets whatsover,” he said, adding “the disappointment you feel is my responsibility and mine alone.” And in an implicit rebuke to Harper – who had attempted to exploit a row over Muslim women’s right to cover their face – he said: “We know in our bones that Canada was built by people from all corners of the world, who worship every faith, who belong to every culture, who speak every language.”
However, in an email to reporters, the Conservative Party announced that they would be seeking an interim leader in the coming days. Harper’s Conservatives were dealt a resounding defeat, falling from 166 seats to about 101 as a red wave swept out Tory incumbents across the country. The Conservative party announced it would be seeking an interim leader in the coming days.
The scale of the Liberals’ dual victory – over the Conservatives and the NDP – remained unclear. But Trudeau will be the next prime minister of Canada, with a parliamentary majority. The question now is how strong his majority will be. In his concession speech before a despondent audience in Calgary, Harper did not mention his resignation, instead focusing on thanking his supporters. “We put it all on the line, we gave everything we have to give, and we have no regrets whatsoever,” he said, adding: “The disappointment you feel is my responsibility and mine alone.”
Peter MacKay, a former senior Conservative cabinet minister, described the result as a “sea change”. Conservative casualties of the night included a string of high-profile former cabinet ministers, including the immigration minister, Chris Alexander, and the finance minister, Joe Oliver.
“We are used to high tides in Atlantic Canada. This is not what we hoped for,” he said, shortly after polls closed in the Atlantic Canada region. The seats were representative of a Liberal sweep of the Greater Toronto Area, the populous and vote-rich area around Canada’s largest city, where the Conservatives made dramatic gains in 2011.
The Conservative casualties of the night included a string of former high-profile cabinet ministers. In the key Greater Toronto suburb of Ajax, former Liberal MP Mark Holland stormed back to re-take his seat from the Conservative immigration minister and former Canadian ambassador to Afghanistan Chris Alexander. Peter MacKay, a former senior Conservative cabinet minister, described the result as a “sea change”. “We are used to high tides in Atlantic Canada. This is not what we hoped for,” he said, shortly after polls closed in the Atlantic Canada region.
Ajax had been thought to be close, but with some ballots still uncounted, it lseemed that Holland had established a lead of almost 30 percentage points. The Liberal victory was also a punishing defeat for the the left-leaning New Democrats, which had started the 11-week campaign appearing to be within reach of power for the first time in history, but ended up with just 42 seats.
Ajax was representative of a Liberal sweep of the Greater Toronto Area, the populous and vote-rich area around Canada’s largest city, many of these ridings which the Conservatives had won big in back in 2011. The New Democrat leader, Tom Mulcair, barely held on to his own seat and in his concession speech said: “Canadians made a choice and we accept it with humility.”
But if the Liberals’ trouncing of the Conservatives in was a surprise, it was dwarfed by the absolute collapse of Tom Mulcair’s New Democratic Party, who went from second place - the official party of opposition - to a distant third, dropping from 95 seats at the beginning of the campaign to a dismal projection of just 36. The Green party leader, Elizabeth May, kept her seat but failed to make further inroads in British Columbia, a province where the party had focused a lot of its efforts.
In seats like Spadina/Fort York, close to downtown Toronto, the NDP candidate Olivia Chow – the widow of the party’s popular former leader Jack Layton – appeared on track to be flattened by the Liberals’ Adam Vaughan by more than 30 percentage points.
Peggy Nash, the NDP’s industry critic (shadow minister) and former party president, lost her seat as did the party’s deputy leader, Morgan Leslie.
The extraordinary result follows the longest – and possibly the most divisive – campaign in Canadian history.
When it began in August, Harper set out to campaign on security and the economy, but quickly had to meet an early challenge from the NDP, which was riding high from a surprise upset in the Alberta provincial elections in May.
But Harper’s use in his campaign of the issue of the niqab, which became one of the season’s highest-profile talking points, may have cost the NDP their lead after Tom Mulcair refused to compromise his position. The wind left the NDP’s sails toward the end of September, and the party seems set to be all but wiped out as the results come in.
In the meantime, Trudeau’s Liberal party began surging past the Conservatives in national poll averages at the beginning of October, and continued its steady climb since then.
Related: Justin Trudeau: who is Canada's new prime minister?Related: Justin Trudeau: who is Canada's new prime minister?
In what some saw as a last-ditch move to energise his base in suburban Toronto, Harper made his final pitch on Saturday night to the former crack-smoking mayor Rob Ford, Ford’s brother Doug and their supporters – the so-called “Ford Nation.” His speech concentrated on attacking Trudeau and the Liberal party on the economy, and played on the theme of risk. Trudeau, 43, was first elected to parliament in 2008 and took the helm of the party in April 2013, winning a leadership race in what many called a coronation. He will be the second youngest prime minister in Canadian history.
But as results began to come in from Atlantic Canada – which saw a near-clean sweep by the Liberals, toppling, among other Conservative MPs, minister for fisheries Gail Shea – it became clear Harper had been unsuccessful this time. Trudeau, who spent part of his childhood in 24 Sussex – the official residence of Canadian prime ministers – made his first appearance in national politics in September 2000, when he gave an emotional eulogy at his father’s funeral in Montreal.
Trudeau, a 43-year-old former school teacher and member of Parliament since 2008, is the son of the late former prime minister Pierre Trudeau. He will become the second-youngest prime minister in Canadian history. Before officially entering politics, he spent time teaching drama, French and maths and working in youth advocacy – a CV that many of his critics have called “too thin” for a political leader.
The Liberals began the campaign a close third behind the Conservatives and New Democrats. But they focused on an upbeat message under the tagline ”Real Change” and offered bold policy promises, including a pledge to run three consecutive deficits in order to fund infrastructure spending.
Trudeau’s Liberal party began surging past the Conservatives in national poll averages at the beginning of October, and continued its steady climb since then.
After Trudeau’s speech, party faithful posed and took selfies at the podium where he declared his victory. Nearby, in a red T-shirt emblazoned with ”Canada”, Peter Szilagyi, 33, said: “Canada spoke out, we wanted change, we were fed up with 10 years of Stephen Harper.
“Four years ago we definitely didn’t think (a victory like this) was possible. It’s thrilling and it’s a very optimistic way to move forward. Trudeau united the party and united Canadians.”
A Liberal government will spell a sea-change in Canadian politics after a decade under the Conservatives – a shift that will be felt quickly on the world stage. The party’s election promises include ending Canada’s combat mission as part the US-led coalition against Isis in Iraq and Syria and refocusing military efforts on training local forces and humanitarian efforts.
Trudeau has also committed to bringing in 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada and invest $250m into refugee processing.
He has committed to pulling Canada out of the new F-35 stealth fighter jet program, a 12-country partnership that includes the US, UK and Australia.
And the Liberals have committed to launching a national inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women - something Harper repeatedly refused to do – amending the Conservative’s controversial anti-terrorism bill and legalizing marijuana in Canada.