Justin Trudeau will remain prime minister, Canadian TV projects.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/20/world/canada/justin-trudeau-wins.html

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Justin Trudeau will remain Canada’s prime minister following the vote in an early election on Monday, Canadian broadcasters projected.

Although many voters in some areas were still stuck in long voting lines, the broadcasters forecast that Mr. Trudeau’s Liberal Party will only hold a minority of seats in the next Parliament.

The prime minister called the election last month, two years ahead of schedule, expecting that the boost in his popularity provided by his handling of the pandemic would give him the majority he was denied in 2019. But those promising numbers immediately fell as Canadians expressed dismay about the election being held while the Delta variant of the coronavirus was straining hospitals and prompting the authorities to restore restrictions in some areas. Preliminary results suggest that the final numbers will largely mirror those of the 2019 election.

While disgruntlement about the election call dominated the five-week campaign, the pandemic intensified as a campaign issue over the final days. Mr. Trudeau has proposed mandatory vaccination for some and championed vaccine passports. Erin O’Toole, the Conservative leader, rejected both.

Mr. Trudeau first came to power in 2015 by presenting himself as a new voice in politics with a fresh approach and policies.

This time around, Mr. Trudeau is part of the political establishment. So he focused on telling voters, explicitly or otherwise, that a return to a Conservative government under Mr. O’Toole would wipe away his achievements in a variety of areas including gun control, gender equity, climate change, child care, poverty reduction and, above all, ending the pandemic and getting Canadians vaccinated.