Canada goes red
Trudeau wins with a majority; Harper steps down
By Graeme McNaughton/The Oshawa Express
The country woke up Tuesday morning with a new government – and based on poll numbers, it wasn’t one that was initially expected.
Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau is set to be the country’s next prime minister, with his party forming a majority government – marking the first time in Canadian history that a party that had finished third in the previous election has gone on to win the next one.
“Canadians have spoken. You want a government with vision and an agenda for this country that is positive and ambitious and hopeful,” Trudeau said during his victory speech in Montreal. “I will make that vision a reality. I will be that prime minister.”
Unofficial results from Elections Canada have the Liberals sitting with 184 seats, well past the threshold of the 170 seats needed to form a majority government.
The Conservatives have now slid down to opposition party status, losing 67 of the seats the party had won in the 2011 campaign, leaving them with 99.
Although he did not announce it during his concession speech in Calgary, now-former Prime Minister Stephen Harper is set to step down as leader of the party.
“I have spoken to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and he has instructed me to reach out to the newly elected parliamentary caucus to appoint an interim leader and to the national council to implement the leadership selection process pursuant to the Conservative Party of Canada constitution,” John Walsh, the president of the Conservative Party, stated in a news release.
Many members of the Conservative Party who had been members of Harper’s cabinet lost their local elections as well, including Joe Oliver, the finance minister and former natural resources minister, in Eglinton-Lawrence; Chris Alexander, the citizenship and immigration minister, in Ajax; Leonna Aglukkaq, the environment minister and former health minister, in Nunavut; and Bernard Valcourt, the aboriginal and northern affairs minister, in New Brunswick’s Madawaska-Restigouche riding.
Tom Mulcair and the NDP faced the biggest loss of the night, losing more than half of the seats won in the 2011 election, dropping the party from opposition to third party with 44 seats.
Mulcair did not comment during his concession speech in Montreal whether he would remain as leader of the party.