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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"You did it, my friends. Congratulations," Mr Trudeau has told supporters in Montreal.
His Liberals had won or were leading in 156 out of 338 seats in the election, according to Elections Canada.
This election saw the highest number of female candidates running in Canada's history, with 651 female candidates across all parties. However polling data shows only a third of them won.
Mr Singh has said he had spoken with Mr Trudeau and vowed to "work hard to deliver on the country's priorities".
Donald Trump has congratulated his Canadian counterpart on a "wonderful" victory.
Something he and Barack Obama can agree on, at last?
The Bloc Quebecois jumped to 32 seats from 10 seats in the predominantly French-speaking province, according to provisional results. Quebec accounts for 78 seats in the House of Commons, second only to Ontario.
The Bloc's resurgence meant the ruling Liberal Party lost seven seats in Quebec, helping reduce Trudeau to a minority.
"We have come far but we will go further," the Bloc's leader Yves-Francois Blanchet told supporters this morning.
You can watch Mr Trudeau’s victory speech in full below, in which he said voters had given his party a “clear mandate” to “make life more affordable”, fight climate change and take guns off the streets of Canada.
Mr Trudeau’s Liberal Party are currently projected to win 156 seats, falling just 14 short of a majority.
Hugh Segal, a former Conservative senator, said the party made a fundamental mistake by being opposed to the carbon tax.
"When you have 500,000 Canadians in the street - 500,000 - (in climate protests), that impacts on people's homes," he said.
"I've often heard it said the worst mistake a party can make is to get sucked into its own low expectations of the population."
Here are some more early reactions to the results this morning.
Doug Porter, chief economist at BMO Capital Markets, said the Liberals will probably have to work with the New Democratic Party (NDP):
“The results were not radically different than the last polls, and a bit more of a conventional result than some earlier polls were pointing to.
“One question will be if the Liberals adopt any of the NDP proposals on raising taxes, or will the focus instead fall on pharmacare. It's likely that at least one key NDP priority will be addressed.”
Conrad Winn, professor of political science at Carleton University, was less optimistic about Mr Trudeau’s prospects in government.
He said:
“I think he (Trudeau) is going to face some serious difficulties. His main advantage is that his competing parties are poorly led and that's why they didn't succeed in defeating him. The Conservatives and the NDP, they really didn't choose their leadership very, very well.
“He's (Trudeau) going to have to curry support with somebody. The NDP may not wish to run another election, they may not be able to afford it. The Bloc may very well wish to run another election because they're on a bit of a comeback. It's not clear what kind of deal that Justin has to have with the opposition parties. He may have to have a deal with more than one party.”
David Moscrop, a political scientist at the University of British Columbia, added:
“We're seeing a much-needed chastening of the Liberal Party.
“I think when parties are forced to cooperate in parliament they tend to produce great outcomes.
“Some of [the result] is a backlash against Liberal arrogance and entitlements. The Liberals set the bar so high they're bound to run into it.”
Additional reporting by Reuters
This is how Andrew Scheer, the Conservative leader and Mr Trudeau’s main rival, reacted to the election result.
He said his party's work is not over, adding:
“Canadians are relying on us and when the time comes, and who knows when that will be, Canadians will need us to replace the Trudeau Liberals with a Conservative government that unites the country…”
It is predicted that Mr Trudeau will need the support of the left-wing New Democratic Party (NDP) to form a government.
The NDP have actually gone backwards in terms of the seats at this election (winning 24 seats so far, compared to 39 in 2015) but have found themselves in a much more influential position than before.
In his concession speech, Jagmeet Singh, the leader of the NDP, said he has spoken to Mr Trudeau and wants his party to play a “constructive and positive role” in the new parliament.
Despite losing seats, Mr Singh seemed to be in good spirits early this morning.
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