Justin Trudeau won re-election, but the Liberal Party did not retain its majority

British D-Day Commemoration In Portsmouth

I will attempt to do a Canada thing once again! Yesterday, Canada voted. Justin Trudeau was up for re-election. Three months ago, Trudeau was looking like a sure thing, but the past couple months were pretty rough on him, what with the flurry of old blackface and brownface photos surfacing, plus various internal scandals and incidents which left the impression that Trudeau was and is kind of a dumb, unserious bro. Well, Trudeau won! He won with a smaller margin of victory than 2015, but still… he won.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada was headed to a second term on Monday after an often ugly campaign that became a referendum on his character and on his authenticity as an earnest standard-bearer for liberalism. Mr. Trudeau’s Liberal Party will not retain its majority in Canada’s House of Commons, according to projections by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, but it will keep enough seats to allow Mr. Trudeau to form a government, with support from two left-leaning parties.

The victory was a personal vindication for Mr. Trudeau, who battled accusations that he had bullied his former attorney general, an Indigenous woman, and faced damaging revelations late in the race that he had dressed in blackface and brownface as a young man. But these problems also clearly took a toll. The Liberals’ share of the popular vote fell throughout the country as it was losing its hold over the House of Commons.

While Mr. Trudeau acknowledged early Tuesday morning “that it is always possible to do better,” his acceptance speech was victorious rather than repentant. “From coast to coast to coast, Canadians rejected division and negativity,” he said in Montreal. “For four years we have done everything we could to improve people’s lives and that is what we will continue to do.”

Mr. Trudeau may have benefited from having an opponent, Andrew Scheer, leader of the Conservative Party, who lacked his star power. Mr. Scheer focused his campaign on Mr. Trudeau’s character — calling him a “fraud” who is “always wearing a mask” — rather than putting forward his own defining vision for the nation beyond cutting taxes.

Mr. Trudeau will not form a formal coalition with any of the three smaller parties in Canada. Instead he will rely on their support on a vote-by-vote basis.

[From The NY Times]

It was also a big night for the Bloc Québécois, “a party that promotes Quebec’s independence.” They won the third highest number of seats. The far-right party, the People’s Party of Canada, “found no electoral success. Even its founder, the former Conservative foreign minister Maxime Bernier, lost his re-election bid.” Sad clown noise, too bad! The NY Times also says that Andrew Scheer’s failure to capitalize on all of the Liberal Party’s weaknesses might mean that the Conservative Party throws him out of his leadership position.

Also:

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183 Responses to “Justin Trudeau won re-election, but the Liberal Party did not retain its majority”

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  1. Nev says:

    Phew.

    • HK9 says:

      I know exactly what you mean. I took my hips over to vote last night and prayed for this. A conservative government would have been a disaster.

    • Lady D says:

      Wholeheartedly agree with phew. Voter turn out wasn’t great in my area.

      • Still_Sarah says:

        I live in Hamilton (1 hour from Toronto). It is a city that the unionized steel industry built And it has been solidly pro-union and socialist (the Canadian version) for many years. We voted in Matthew Green for the NDP (New Democratic Party). Even the rich people are NDP in Hamilton- they are called champagne socialists.

    • @lilith57 says:

      @ Nev
      Double “phew”
      (and I’m not even Canadian!!)

  2. Fluffy Donuts says:

    I’m happy for him but not nearly as happy as Princess Nagini probably is…Sorry dude.

  3. Dal says:

    Thnks for including Canada ! It was a close race wow trump actually seems civil

    • Esmom says:

      And when Trump seems civil, chances are someone else wrote that tweet.

    • Amy says:

      Definitely written by someone else. There’s no way Dump actually knows the word “betterment”.

    • Lady Keller says:

      Ha. I came here to comment about that. I want to know who wrote the Trump tweet, because there is no way it was him.

    • Godwina says:

      I’m also gut-feeling it was composed in the expectation Scheer would win (who’s far friendlier to Trumpians). But then JT took it and staff said, “Ech, close enough, tweet it anyway.” Something about the word choice.

    • holly hobby says:

      He didn’t write that. Maybe it’s his daughter-wife. He wouldn’t know what “betterment” meant if it hit him on his large orange ass.

  4. Erinn says:

    I voted last night – probably the quickest I’ve ever been able to vote before, including early poll days. I went to bed expecting the worst (lol chronic fatigue means no waiting up for the polls), and woke up feeling a little bit proud that the bulk of Canada isn’t QUITE as vindictive as I had expected.

    An article I read this morning called Maxime a charisma vacuum which I enjoyed because – fair.

    My riding went blue, and I’m pissed, but not surprised. We have a lot of uninformed, (VERY WHITE) hillbilly types who just rely on whatever meme gets shared a lot for their education on who to vote for.

    • nettie says:

      My riding went blue and I’m happy about it . I have a post graduate degree and believe that I am very informed. I find the personal attacks on anyone that is not left of centre pathetic. I hope that the Canada can actually come together, however, with the resurgence of the BLOC and the alienation of the west it doesn’t look good.

      • Sarah says:

        Nettie, honest question here. How can an informed, educated woman be happy about a party that wants to cut social services, turn their backs on refugees, ignore urgent climate concerns, and take away civil liberties like bodily autonomy, all in favour of the almighty dollar? I just simply don’t understand it, and would like to.

      • stepup says:

        @Sarah:

        They literally have different brains than us. I’m not being snarky. Conservative brains differ from liberal brains in several ways. The two most meaningful (politically speaking) involve the brain parts the process fear and compassion. The part of the brain that registers and processes fear is much more active in conservatives, which is why they are more afraid of people not like them. Plus, the part of their brains that process compassion is smaller. I’m not being funny. Studies prove this out. It’s why conservatives have a hard time feeling compassion for people not in their immediate circles.

      • Mtec says:

        @Nettie
        Please refer to @Sarah’s comment as well, because I would also like to understand how an educated woman could vote for a party that would actively try to oppress people like you/us (and work towards many other human rights/climate abuses) —I know my comment is framed kind of judgmentally —i just don’t know how else to put it (@Sarah said it more eloquently than I could ever) , but I will genuinely listen to your logic if you choose to share it.

      • Stefanie says:

        Your reference to our home and native land as “the Canada” leads me to question your education.

      • Gisele says:

        @Stephanie That made me laugh hysterically. I feel kind of burnt out and fragile from all of the election stress and I needed that laugh.

      • Betty says:

        In the West of Canada we are proud of our blue vote, the east coast can keep Trudeau their Prime Minister, but please since you dont care for us dont come for jobs here . Alberta against everyone !!!!

      • Arpeggi says:

        @Betty, the West isn’t all that blue: there’s lots of orange and Green in BC and even some spots of orange in the Prairies. The West isn’t as monolithic as people seem to think it is and Alberta doesn’t speak for all of Western Canada

      • KL says:

        Educated female social liberal, fiscal conservative here. Saying conservatives have “different brains” and just aren’t capable of feeling compassion is hurtful and simply not true. You don’t get to claim moral authority because you vote red or orange, sorry. I voted blue and I’m (*gasp*) not an unfeeling monster. Here’s how that works:

        – In the Canadian judicial system, social protections such as female autonomy and same sex and trans rights are not going anywhere, no matter who’s in power. We are not the USA. Notwithstanding the fact that rescinding human rights is not actually part of the platform, if a conservative government were to come to power and try to rescind existing protections, they would be blocked at very turn. Canada has an excellent system of laws and our judges take their jobs very seriously. I have the utmost faith that our human rights are and will continue to be protected.

        – The NDP/Liberal party line has become that every business owner is a tax cheat, so they must all be vilified and hammered with taxes at all costs. It drives me nuts and I’m not even a business owner. Our taxes are already high, which for the most part I’m fine with (yay universal healthcare!). However, increasing corporate taxes significantly absolutely WILL drive businesses out of the country and have a detrimental impact on our economy, despite what Jagmeet Singh would have us believe.

        – It’s important to have a balanced budget. It just is. The Liberals and NDP basically think all cuts are bad no matter what and who cares about balancing the budget. In order for the government to be accountable to taxpayers, greater financial oversight, including cuts, is necessary. The deeper in the hole we get, the more beholden we become to countries like the USA and China, and their *cough* less-than stellar human rights records. The Conservatives seemed to be the only party to take the budget seriously, which is very scary to me.

        – Some climate policy is necessary, certainly. However, Canada will never make a difference to global climate change. We are not important in this fight. The blatant tax grabs by the Liberals disguised as progressive environmental policy is grandstanding at its finest, and it would be way worse under an NDP government. A carbon tax won’t do a thing to stop climate catastrophe. Sorry not sorry. It’s a scam.

        – Finally, I personally I don’t understand how educated women can possibly support Trudeau! He put himself on a pedestal for hiring a cabinet full of capable women, then fired them when they actually do their jobs and hold his feet to the fire. Also, HE WORE BLACKFACE SO MANY TIMES HE CAN’T EVEN COUNT THEM ALL. HOW ARE WE FINE WITH THIS???

      • stepup says:

        @KL — Summarizing a study is not claiming moral authority. It is what it is. And those are the results.

        You can get irrate about the blackface — but the isolated incidents of one individual is much more forgivable than your party’s ultimate goal, which is propping up INSTITUTIONALIZED racism under the rubric of economic probity. The latter is a million times worse than the former.

      • A says:

        @KL

        – I feel like this is something that anyone who is not actually a minority of some variety says. I’m not sure what the case is for you here, and I don’t want to assume. But just because you, personally, do not FEEL like your rights are in danger, doesn’t actually mean that is the case. We’ve seen countless examples around the world where previously “iron-clad” systems have been neutered, expressly for the purpose of weakening human rights legislation (Poland, Hungary, India, the USA, the UK, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.) Everyone thinks their rights are protected, up until they aren’t, and that’s because the people who are interested in stripping you of those rights aren’t invested in something like fairness or playing by the rules. We’ve dealt with this in Canada in the last few years–Doug Ford and Francois Legault have both rammed through legislation that is technically unconstitutional, and it’s all been perfectly legal. Just because you think it doesn’t affect you, doesn’t mean it’s not a concern for the rest of us.

        – that’s not how the budget works, and just because you’re in a hole doesn’t mean you’re beholden to China. Saying as much is actually something of a racist talking point. Austerity and cuts weaken the economy. The government is not a business, it shouldn’t be run like one, and balancing the budget matters a great deal less than most fiscal conservatives realize. And taking away support from the most vulnerable segments of the population does in fact demonstrate a significant lack of empathy. You can’t tell someone to pull themselves up from their bootstraps when they don’t have bootstraps to begin with.

        – “some climate action is necessary” “a carbon tax won’t stop climate catastrophe” Okay, so what do you suggest we do in order to combat said climate catastrophe? Because let me tell you, “some” climate action won’t cut it. We’re dealing with fires that are as destructive as Fort McMurray was on a regular basis now. Things are only going to get worse, rapidly, from here on out. We NEED action. Quibbling abt the carbon tax being a tax grab when it’s likely that we won’t have a planet, let alone people in a planet, to tax or not tax is somewhat silly to me, but that’s just me. Then again, the Conservative party, in general, spent a lot of time denying climate change flat out, so that’s not surprising to me either.

        – why do you support a man like Scheer, or a party that contains the likes of Jason Kenney, who stand with Nazis and altright members who would very much like to commit violence against minorities, and have done as much. Again, how are you going to argue that you have compassion when you support people who argue that certain segments of the population shouldn’t exist, don’t deserve rights, and don’t deserve to be treated equally? I get that you think our rights will be protected because of our institutions, but people like Scheer and others of his sort fundamentally don’t think certain groups of people have humanity and deserve respect. Why do you support such people if you have compassion? Why are things like the economy and tax dollars more important to you than basic human decency and, I dunno, not palling around with actual Nazis. Most conservatives I’ve met are polite, friendly, and act like decent people, but their tolerance for bullshit makes me think that a lot of them don’t actually care for their fellow human. And that’s the actual issue here.

      • Erinn says:

        –Yeah, well, Nettie, I find the homophobic POS running the conservative party to be pretty pathetic myself, but sure.

        –Betty (which interestingly rhymes with nettie.. hmmm…) “but please since you dont care for us dont come for jobs here . Alberta against everyone !!!”
        Oh don’t worry – I’d rather lose my house than move out west for work tbh. There are some absolutely wonderful people out there – just like anywhere. But in my experience the vast vast majority of people I grew up with who did go out west were asshats to begin with, but REALLY became full fledged bigoted xenophobes once they moved to your neck of the woods.

        –KL I’m calling BS, and I think we’re going to have to agree to disagree on some of that. Balanced budgets are of course important – but it’s not like Scheer was going to fix it. Instead (and it took him until AFTER early voting had begun to even release his platform) he planned to make 53 billion in cuts. And lets not forget that a good chunk of the spending that took place since 2015 was in an attempt to stabilize us after Harper’s cuts. There’s an awful lot of “that can’t happen” or “that won’t help” in your post which is interesting. But the attitude of “it won’t make enough difference” is going to get us nowhere. And I truly doubt that most of the US celebitches EVER expected the US to take the turn that it has. How many times have we seen things put into place to stop abuses of power that Trump and the R’s have just flat out ignored. Then we have the typical “but the blackfaceee” “but he fiiiiireeeddd the womeeenn” cards, which is expected (although how many C’s would have given a crap about them if this hadn’t hit Trudeau hard). And I, like most sensible people, thought the blackface was absolutely horrifying. But when I see two politicians and one of them STILL can’t apologize for comparing humans being gay to calling a tail on a dog a leg – and the other did something awful that they’ve apologized for and who makes policies intended to protect minorities and women… well it’s pretty clear to me who I’d vote for. Scheer can say all day long that he doesn’t want to reopen the abortion/marijuana/gay marriage debate. And he can also say all day long that he was an insurance broker. It doesn’t make either of those things true.

      • insertpunhere says:

        @KL, I would caution anyone against thinking that rights aren’t going away. I’m not Canadian, so I won’t pretend to be familiar enough with your political system to rebut all of your points, but I think that people believing that we had come a long way, and our gains were rock solid, is a huge part of what got the US in trouble. I’m a millennial, and the number of women I knew in high school and college who acted like feminism was a dirty word, and we were fine because we’d reached equality, is truly horrifying, especially in light of the constant assault on women’s rights that we’ve seen in the last 20 years or so.

        Again, not Canadian, but any time I hear a woman on this side of the border claim that Roe v. Wade is the law of the land or that women don’t need to worry about a conservative government because the protections are in place, I think about Iran. Gains can be lost horrifyingly easily, and anyone who believes in human rights should keep that in mind.

      • Vauvert says:

        To the “educated, blue voters”:
        AB and SK need to realize that fossil fuel may provide jobs now – and faster climate change for everyone. Instead they could look at investing in green tech and energy, replacing oil jobs. But no, it’s easier to bemoan the fact that $100K jobs for high school drop outs are gone. Sorry. There are lots of other trades you can train for that have a future if green energy is something you hate.

        Sure debt is not good but before crying the sky is falling, look at the numbers:
        Currently Canada”s debt-to-GDP ratio stands at 30.9 and, according to Liberal projections, will shrink to 30.2 per cent of GDP in 2023-2024. The figure for Japan is 237.5 % of GDP, 106.7 % for the United States and 99.2 % for France. We’re fine and rated AAA so as the whole global economy is slowing down, an austerity program is not the best choice. Also, please indicate which past con government actually reduced the deficit?

        The eastern provinces don’t want the oil jobs in AB. See, in the last 4 years there were 1M jobs created. Also – a balanced cabinet. Also, 100 water advisories in native communities were lifted. Also, CETA, TPP and new NAFTA were signed
        (Remember the smug cries that JT wouldn’t be able to deal with the “negotiator”, big orange doofus? Well he did. The tariffs were lifted. And the old NAFTA is still law for now.) Our agricultural exports to Japan doubled. Yes, we have a pickle with China – because like idiots we adhered to international law and respected our commitment to the US, arresting Meng of Huawei. Probably stupid of – once she gets extradited I’m sure orange doofus will let her go in exchange for a few more trademarks for his sister wife but that’s life.

        Meanwhile I wouldn’t be so cocksure that everything is safe here for minorities, women and LGBTQ: I’m disgusted that Chick-a Fil (or whatever their name is) is still open in TO, we have had Jewish cemeteries vandalized, a mosque terrorist attack in QC – and the stupid conservative chorus of hatred against a paltry 25,000 Syrian refugees. It can happen here too unless we are careful.

        Finally, young voters – I think – have proven that they care about the environment and a strong social net. All I hope for is that the Liberals can work with the other parties to stick to their promises. (I don’t care about electoral reform, never did and they shouldn’t have promised last time. No system is perfect and no matter. What you pick a great deal of people will hate it.)

      • Lisa says:

        @KL, @nettie

        Canadian University professor of economics (UBC, 10 years) and expert in development economics (25 years of field work and global economic policy negotiation) here.

        You’re wrong.

      • Nic919 says:

        Facts show that the biggest deficits in recent years were by conservative governments. Harper blew through the surplus that Martin had left and let’s not get into Mulroney, who destroyed the PC party forever and had to create the GST to get more money. On top of that Canada managed to do better than countries like the UK during the last recession precisely because they didn’t run the same austerity approach which does not work. And Martin controlled the banks which Harper would have deregulated to permit a prime mortgage fiasco that happened in the US. Conservative parties claim to be good with money, but really they are good at giving it away to corporations without any thought for the middle and working class. History bears this out.

      • KL says:

        @A: You’re right, I’m not a minority. I do practice human rights law though so I am actually familiar with the system and how it works. I stand by my comment.

        @ Lisa:

        Lawyer here, not that it matters.

        Party politics is entirely based on rhetoric. There is no right or wrong. Get over yourself.

      • SilentStar says:

        “Alienation of the West”! Leave us BC folks out of that bandwagon please. We’re used to doing our own thing and don’t get our panties in a twist every time we don’t get what we feel entitled to. I think this is a phrase made up by people not a far West as we are.

    • Smalltown Girl says:

      I voted last week because I was in teh US yesterday and I am so relieved by the results and that my riding went red, which surprised me a bit because all I saw was blue signs.

    • Alice says:

      I believe we are in the same riding and I too was disappointed to see it turn blue. I was pleasantly surprised to see Freddy get a green seat.

    • Mjp3kids says:

      Erin- what province are you in? White hillbillies sounds like my neck of the woods in Alberta!!

    • Megan2 says:

      My riding went blue. My whole city is now blue. It’s sad, but I’m just glad that we didn’t end up with Conservative at the federal level. I don’t understand how anyone with an ounce of compassion or common sense could ever vote for a party that wants to push back women’s health care, LGBTQI+ rights, etc. Ever since Alberta reverted to a Conservative government, I’ve found myself with a great deal less faith in my neighbors. Kenney is a bigot and a bully.

      • Frances says:

        Megan2, would you ever vote for the Green Party? Because Elizabeth May is against abortion, even though her party is super progressive. I am personally pro-choice, but I don’t worry about a politician’s personal view on abortion because Canada is not re-opening the abortion debate, ever. In fact, the Conservatives are the only party that allow their members to have differing opinions on these issues. The Liberals won’t even let you join their party if you have a different opinion than them. So tell me, who is the bully now? Personally, the Liberals are bigger bullies than the Conservatives.

      • Megan2 says:

        @Frances: I would never vote for an anti-choice politician, regardless of party. The abortion debate IS at risk of being re-opened, as evidenced a few few years ago when the minister for women (or some such thing, been a few years, but literally the female government official responsible for maintaining and protecting the rights and access of women in our country) thought that the topic deserved further discussion. I’m sorry, but assuming that we are safe is willful blindness. I will also never vote Conservative, because of their views on minorities, LGBTQI+ rights and protections, their close ties to white supremacy, etc. Liberal or NDP all the way for me, depending on who is running. Personal views matter and speak to the values and ethics of those we choose to run our country.
        Also, I work in Oil & Gas. I want to keep my job and be able to afford my life. But not at the cost of my freedom and not to the detriment of those most vulnerable segments of our society.

    • Arpeggi says:

      I laughed so loud at Bernier’s loss but I felt torn apart: on one side a Bernier win meant one less Tory in Parliament (and being 1 MP meant he’d have 30s to speak per year) but you also don’t want Bernier anywhere near politic (and we’ve known that since 2004)… There was a meme running within 15 min of his loss.

      I’m glad my riding stayed NDP even if it’s now the only orange riding in Quebec, but I mourn for Ruth Ellen Brosseau in Berthier who was an awesome MP, I hope she’ll be back soon. Overall, it’s a good night, it’s what I was wishing for 4 years ago and we probably would have had a better government last time around (and an electoral reform) had it happened. But having the NDP and the Greens (and the Bloc) having the balance of power means the government will have to govern on the left and care about the environment. Also, I’m a scientist in academia, so I feel like my job is a little bit more secured for the next 21 month at least!

    • Mego says:

      Delighted we kept our excellent liberal representative. I am in that riding where a certain famous person was running for the cons 😬

    • @lilith57 says:

      @Erinn
      Is “riding” in Canada the same as “district” here in America?

  5. Jordana says:

    I didn’t vote Liberal, I also didn’t vote Conservative, but I’m also very relieved Andrew Scheer didn’t win.

    • Mrs. Peel says:

      Me too – I voted for Singh on his character and strengths in the debates. Sadly, his party lost many seats, but I look forward to seeing how they keep the Libs in check in parliament.

      • Jordana says:

        I always vote Green. I’m in Alberta, so it’s really kind of hopeless, but I hope it sends a message “we are not all conservatives in Alberta.” I was born and raised here. I will never vote conservative.

      • A says:

        @Jordana, I know plenty of people will yell at you, but in all sincerity, I want to say that your vote did matter. If nothing else, they can look at the poll results and know that SOMEONE voted Green, and didn’t vote Conservative. That is important, no matter what.

    • Mtec says:

      @Jordana
      Same. It was scary though, how close it was.

      • Sarah says:

        Is it fair to say that people like Jordana who didn’t vote Liberal but are relieved Scheer didn’t win only have themselves to blame for a minority govt?

      • Oui oki says:

        No, Sarah. Not in every riding. If her riding was solid blue/conservative then her green vote being liberal wouldn’t have changed anything there

      • A says:

        @Sarah, that’s only if you think a minority govt is a bad thing, which it isn’t. Left-leaning parties working together form the majority of the seats in parliament. If anything, Trudeau is now forced to be even more progressive on issues, now that he has to work with the NDP to get things passed.

      • yay! says:

        exactly! A minority government serves the needs of more people more fairly.

      • sammiches says:

        @ Sarah – nope, not fair to say. Especially since my NDP vote helped the NDP candidate win the riding, giving the Cons one less spot in my blue province.

    • Scotchy says:

      i too voted NDP. I wasn’t scared. I mean due to lack of voter turnout ( we went from 65% to 62%) I figured it would be close but knew that either party would be in the minority which usually means they won’t last long. Either way I hope next round somehow the NDP can capture some of the East. I am a west coaster and well voting is always a bittersweet experience as our votes never way governments.

      • LNG says:

        Are you talking about turnout in your own riding Scotchy? Nationally voter turnout was down, but from 68% to 66%. I actually expected it to fall a lot more than it did!!

    • Marianne says:

      same

  6. Nic919 says:

    Bloc Québécois is a separatist party but they are also progressive on a lot of social issues and they don’t want a pipeline in quebec. So the liberals either have to work with them or the NDP, another progressive party, in order to have the required majority to pass legislation. It is probably the best result for progressive politics.

    Scheer mostly got votes in Alberta and rural ontario because those areas tend to hate Trudeau and always did. He also comes off as deeply insincere such as having ripped other leaders for dual citizenship years ago while still having a US dual citizenship. The unwillingness to apologize for homophobic comments about same sex marriage and equivocating about abortion did not help either. Social conservative candidates do not play well in most parts of Canada.

    • Erinn says:

      And his whole “I was an insurance broker! GUYS. I swear I’m not a lifer politician!” lies. The fact that he got away with that one really annoys me.

      Scheer was just another Harper but with a slightly less awkward face and marginally better haircut.

      • Jordana says:

        He worked for 6 months as a clerk in an insurance office….so, he had a career outside of politics! Hahaha
        I’m just so relieved Scheer didn’t win. I have a lot of friends in Regina that are in the same circles as Scheer’s wife and her family. They tell me that the family has become insufferable talking nonstop about Andrew’s success. I’m also relieved I have have to see his wife Jill called the PMs wife. Petty, maybe, but I just don’t like her.

      • Nic919 says:

        Most Canadians cannot afford to raise five kids and it shows just how well Andy has been paid getting government money all this time. There are way too many of these types in office. Pierre Poilievre is another one. They have never had real jobs outside of politics and don’t know how the real world works. It’s all a game to them and it’s why they are charisma vacuums since they are stunted personality wise.

      • Jordana says:

        @nic919
        She is a never -worked-in- her -life “teacher”. Because she has a degree.
        Trust, they fly all over Canada, fly all those kids between Ottawa and regina, A LOT. And guess who pays for it.

    • Scotchy says:

      Scheer also got a lot of votes in rural BC. Brutal..

    • Godwina says:

      The Bloc is so xenophobic now, so “progressive” with them only goes so far.

      • Nic919 says:

        That’s a fair comment. I meant progressive with respect to climate change and same sex marriage, but they are supporting a xenophobic law in Quebec.

    • Arpeggi says:

      Yeah the Bloc did not run on a separatist platform at all and it was understood by everybody in Quebec, seeing Scheer and JT talk about separation on Sunday was hilarious and desperate. The Parti Quebecois has 11 seats out of 125 in the Quebec AssNat, sovereignty polls at 30% which is the baseline: independence is not on the radar at all. The Bloc can be an ally when it comes to the environment or assisted suicide and they don’t hold the balance of power when time will come to try to do something to overturn the gross Bill 21 so that’s nice. Although I think that many in Quebec voted for the Bloc because they wanted to make sure the bill would be protected (note that Montreal where most of the diversity is is against Bill 21 and the parties that push for that fake secularism) so things might get ugly once the cause reaches the Supreme Court

  7. mazzie says:

    I look forward to the NDP holding the Liberals’ feet over the fire. (I hope. It’s a strong minority.)

    • LNG says:

      I think it’s going to take a couple of years before the NDP has any leverage. Right now they are super broke. They won’t be able to afford another election for at least a couple of years.

  8. OriginalLala says:

    I voted NDP as I always do (I’m in a VERY Liberal riding) – but I was very disappointed that the Bloc destroyed the NDP in Quebec 🙁

    But on the bright side, Scheer and his ilk can suck it!

    PS: Thank you for “doing a Canada thing” again Kaiser! Us Canadian Celebitches appreciate it

  9. Juliette says:

    So relieved that Sceer didn’t win a majority. I voted for Singh. I think in years to come he will be a.much bigger force. Scheer is the worst and there’s already rumours of him being replaced. Bye bye Andy.

    • CommentingBunny says:

      The NDP would be fools to look for a new leader, even if they did lose seats. He’s the future.

      • LNG says:

        I agree! My VERY conservative father even came around on Singh towards the end of the campaign. Hates his policies, but admitted that he was the most impressive of the leaders.

        I think his late surge and approval numbers will help him retain the leadership even though they ended up losing seats.

      • Juliette says:

        I totally agree. I think Singh is fantastic and would make an excellent PM. He is smart, kind, and has great ideas to move us all forward. I’m an NDP lifer and will always vote for him.

    • jen d. says:

      I would have loved to see a minority government with Singh as leader of the opposition. He’s amazing, he has fantastic policies, and I think he’d actually keep at least some of his promises to Indigenous ppls (unlike Trudeau). I’m glad Trudeau won (if I couldn’t have Trudeau or even May), but I’m team Jagmeet all the way. He has so much momentum!

      I have to laugh a bit – I get that Trudea is so much better than Trump, but I do think some Americans don’t get that there are even more progressive candidates out there.

  10. Manda says:

    I didn’t vote liberal or conservative but I’m glad Scheer didn’t win.

    • Anners says:

      Same. So very glad it wasn’t a Scheer victory. A little dismayed, though, about how well the Bloc Québécois did. I’m sad so many want to separate.

  11. Mtec says:

    As an immigrant citizen of Canada, a woman, and someone who’s studying to become a nurse, I’m happy liberals “won” but it made me really sad to see how much support the Conservative party got, specially in provinces more mid-further west from Ontario.

  12. Mia4s says:

    This is a good outcome overall as it forces some cooperation on the Liberal party. Oh and when you hear Twitter rantings about “they didn’t win the popular vote”? Ignore the ravings because 1. This is a parliamentary system, not an electoral college. 2. If you add it all up well over half of Canada voted for left leaning progressive parties. We are very far from perfect, but we are continuing forward.

    • Godwina says:

      Yeah, closer to two-thirds of Canada voted left-ier, and considering all that vote splitting and the cons STILL couldn’t take it, that’s nice to see.

  13. Vauvert says:

    Thrilled and relieved. According to the volunteers at our polling station, the young people really came out to vote. Very impressed and grateful. I feel sorry that Alberta will basically have no voice since they went all in for conservatives – wish they’d realize that big oil is not their friend and we need to invest in green energy. That being said the pipeline will continue to be a huge / divisive issue. On one hand I understand the need to have it built but fossil fuels are not the future we should focus on… it will beinterestinggoingforward. The Bloc is never going to be anything but a local party – luckily Justin can deal with them. Our riding and surrounding areas all went Liberal so – yeah, huge sigh of relief. There are Green and NDP policies I like a lot but I don’t think they’re ready for prime time – they have to really built their network further.

  14. Yoko_ohno says:

    I wanted to vote NDP but my riding was very close between the Liberals and conservatives so I voted Liberal. I don’t feel amazing about it but I would have felt worse with a conservative government. Hopefully this will move Liberal policies to the left (to the left.)

    • Godwina says:

      You are smart, given your riding’s situation, and I’m grateful you did that. I know it’s no fun.

    • joanne says:

      I wish I could like your post. It’s huge to not get a conservative government. Thank you for helping.

    • Gisele says:

      I had to vote strategically in my riding as well. It didn’t make me happy to do so, but hell, it kept the Conservative candidate out. Many people I know did the same. There was too much at stake.

    • wellsie says:

      Same! Victim of strategic voting here. I wanted to get my head checked voting Liberal again, considering all that has happened. With Scheer as the likely alternative I felt like my hands were tied.

    • Lady D says:

      My area of rural BC has been blue for a very long time. I voted Liberal although I doubt it helped much. My candidate did collect 30% of the vote last time around, which gives me hope. I know my son and all his friends were voting red last night.

  15. Lia says:

    I voted for Trudeau, as much as I hate him and his overinflated ego and narcissism we need a progressive party. We shouldn’t be too excited the Conservatives won the popular vote, that’s a lot of conservatives. Also shows we need to get rid of FPTP, when the NDP got one million more votes than the BLOC but have a much lower number of seats it just sinks in how skewed our democratic system really is.

    • Smalltown Girl says:

      The conservatives winning the popular vote doesn’t bother me as much because it’s less than half the country and there are two left parties (plus the greens) and that gives the conservatives N advantage for those numbers. More than half the country voted left leaning.

      • A says:

        The Conservatives didn’t “win the popular vote.” There is no such thing as the popular vote in Canada. The Conservatives won 34% of the vote share, which means that the remaining 56%, which is more than half, went to the Liberals/NDP/Greens/Bloc Quebecois. All of these parties are left leaning, except perhaps the Bloc, which is left leaning when it comes to protecting the interests of Quebec (subsidized day care, lower tuition, a strong stance on the environment, etc.) not so much when it comes to the rest of the country.

      • Godwina says:

        The Bloc is also a super comfy party for racist Quebeckers, as they’re leaning xenophobic even more than ever. So you can be pro-woman, pro-climate and anti-immigrant and LOVE the Bloc, even if you’re not a separatist. It’s a big catch-all.

    • Liane says:

      This. I was so angry seeing those stats for the NDP and the Bloc. Western alienation really is a thing, and when the west sees that Quebec is better represented in parliament (32 seats) with only 7.7% of the vote, compared to the NDP’s 24 seats with 15.9% of the vote …. well, resentment is just going to grow.

      Anyone hear what voter turnout was like?

      • A says:

        62% or around about thats, vs. 65% from the last election.

        It always surprises me how low voter turnout is in Canada. My family is from India, and voter turnout there for elections is always in the high 80%. People take their civic duty seriously there, in spite of everything the country deals with. It’s a shame that a place like Canada can’t be the same.

      • Godwina says:

        As people have said elsewhere, the Prairies were resentful even with Harper in power for almost a decade, so…

      • HK9 says:

        @A you ‘re right. My family beat it into my head that those who don’t vote don’t get to complain so I always make sure I vote. (Canadian from West-Indian family here) My ancestors actually died to get the right to vote sooooo it’s something I do.

      • LNG says:

        A – turnout was actually 66% vs 68% last election. A drop, but not nearly as much as I expected.

      • Tigerlily says:

        I’m a left leaning born and raised Albertan. I grew up in a city and was city dweller until I met my rural Albertan husband and moved to a small town. Talk about being a fish out of water. Grateful that Scheer didn’t get in, I voted for the Liberal candidate because I used to work with him and he’s a solid guy and professional. In most of Alberta it doesn’t matter who the Conservative candidate is, he’s in like Flynn. In my riding the Conservative candidate (now MP) is a young farmer who went to a private “Christian” university” and is not pro choice….sigh. However, western alienation is a huge thing that needs attention. One of my Conservative in laws noted last night on FB that “before the polls close in Alberta, 2.3 million Atlantic Canadians with 32 federal seats have cancelled out Alberta’s 34 federal seats and Alberta has a population of 4.3 million people.” I also think that other provinces bashing the Alberta oilfield and the jobs that go along with it should put their money where their mouths are and refuse to take equalization payments of Alberta’s “dirty money”. No? Hmmm

      • Arpeggi says:

        Again, why are people upset over the number of seats the Bloc got based on percentage?! The Bloc is a regional party, it only has candidates in 78 out of 338 ridings, of course it can’t get 25% of the votes, but getting 7.7% overall when you’re only presenting candidates in 23% of the ridings is impressive, regardless of your opinion of the party/its platform. It’s like complaining that Jody Wilson Raybould shouldn’t have a seat because she only got 0.6% of the overall vote: concentration of the vote also matters. I’m all for an electoral reform, but you know what, even with a proportional system, the Bloc would still have gotten something between 25 to 30 seats , it’s the Libs and the Cons that would have lost seats to the NDP.

        As Godwina said, resentment has been alive and well since the 30s, regardless of which party’s in power. Ironically, then the resentful people bash the one party that was created out of regional resentment to do something about it instead of sulking in a corner. 2nd irony: I’d actually be happy to see the Bloc and the Parti Quebecois die, the only thing that made me happy during the last provincial election was to be able to dance on the PQ’s grave! And here I am, having to defend their existence

  16. SilentStar says:

    And Jody Wilson Raybould was handily re-elected as an independent! That is a strong statement! Good for her.

    • eliza says:

      Yes, so happy for Jody! I wanted a minority, because I knew the NDP wouldn’t get in, and agree with previous posters, that hopefully they can hold against the liberals fake-environmentalism. And I’m hoping some of the liberals who got in will go against the party whip and vote in more environmental legislation (including an environmental activist who decided to run as Liberal and won in Quebec!). Wel’ll see! Doesn’t look like we’ll be getting electoral reform though, unless Trudeau thinks it can help him in the next election.

  17. Smalltown Girl says:

    I disagree it was a sure bet a few months ago, I think the writing has been on the wall for the better part of the year that certain progressives were done with the Liberals and honestly a minority government was pretty much what they were going to have to settle for, but they managed a minority government with teh NDP having enough seats to prop them up and that will hopefully keep them to the left and will make people happy.

    I am so relieved this morning.

  18. CommentingBunny says:

    My second favourite thing about Maxime Bernier losing his riding (first fave being that he lost his riding) is that the Rhino party found a dude named Maxime Bernier to run against him.

    • OriginalLala says:

      The rhino party had my respect for doing that! I’m so happy Bernier and his vile far-right beliefs lost.

    • Prairiegirl says:

      My father’s cousin’s wife knows the Bernier family well and I once asked her what she thought of Maxime. She answered without hesitation, “He’s a dilettante and a wastrel.” LOLOLOLOL.

      • wellsie says:

        Your father’s cousin’s wife sounds awesome! lol

      • Tigerlily says:

        Prairiegirl Totally believe your cousin’s wife’s description of Bernier. He’s an idiot. In 2008 he was dating a very striking looking “former model/aspiring actress” who had ties to Hell’s Angels biker gang. He also left “sensitive” documents in her apartment that caused some stink. I’m just shocked he’s made it this far in his political career without further mess. Glad he finally got voted out.

    • Arpeggi says:

      Have you heard Bernier’s conspiracy theory about how the Rhino’s Bernier was actually move from the Conservatives to make him lose even though the Rhino got something like 2% of the votes in Beauce? It was hilarious! That and his old jingle. In some ways, I’ll miss his stupidity, but I hate the guy and I was so glad to see him go!

  19. Emily says:

    So glad to have JT back. So glad Canada isn’t going far right like so many other countries.

    This election has shown Canada’s large regional divides, with Alberta and Sask served only by Con MPs and the resurgence of the Bloq in Quebec.

    It’s also seriously called into question Canada’s first past the post system as the Liberals actually lost the popular vote to the Conservatives and the NDP and Green are underrepresented in the house.

    Normally I think whoever has the popular vote should govern, but in this election, that would have meant all of Canada being beholden to Alberta.

    • Smalltown Girl says:

      I agree with the sentiment about popular vote, but in just doesn’t work in Canada with more left leaning parties than right because the right Kensington people all vote for the same awful party and as you said, Alberta votes in droves.

  20. J ferber says:

    I’m glad he won. I always wondered if those pics (deservedly condemned as racist) were actually publicized and made into a shitstorm through Russian interference in a foreign election. Their success and lack of consequences in the u.s. have emboldened them further. There can/will be Trumps elected all over the world so Western Civilization can collapse and Putin will be world emperor, or something.

    • Grey says:

      There are people who speculate that many of the smear tactics in this election are because of Warren Kinsella, who may actually have been hired by the Conservatives. This came out on the weekend by Scheer would neither “confirm or deny” it.

    • A says:

      So you’re telling me that Trudeau took those pictures and wore black face because of Russian interference in 2000whenever, and not because he was an ignorant racist at the time who likely didn’t care about POC?

      POC in Canada have a right to know who they’re dealing with as a leader in their country. Not everything you hate automatically becomes Russian interference, JFC.

  21. Danielle says:

    I literally started crying from relief last night when it was projected to go liberal. I’m happy too it’s a minority, liberals didn’t deserve another majority, but the best of all the options available. Especially after Ford has screwed Ontario and our social programs, will take a long time for me to vote blue again in any election.

  22. LNG says:

    Even with a minority outcome, this was a major success for Trudeau and a serious fail for Scheer. Things looked MUCH bleaker than this heading into the election, with the possibility of the Liberals needing to play ball with both the NDP and Bloc to have a chance to govern, OR with the Conservatives getting a higher seat count minority and us being forced back to the polls in 6 months. Now the Liberals can work with any of the major parties (and neither the NDP or the Bloc are going to want an election anytime soon – particularly the NDP, as they are BROKE). I think this will be a relatively stable minority government.

    If Scheer couldn’t turn the major issues Trudeau has had in the last year into success at the polls that says something about his leadership. If they had focused on policy more than attacking Trudeau they may have had a shot (although most of their policies suck, so who knows). Scheer banked on stirring up the absolute hatred for Trudeau in the prairies, which only represents 62 of 338 ridings (he succeeded, “wexit” (brexit for the prairies) is trending on twitter), but I’m not sure who thought this would work for the rest of the country. The majority of Canadians don’t like dirty campaigns. And no matter how much they tried to hide Doug Ford, Ontario is dealing with the consequences of voting in a Trump-like candidate right now and they aren’t happy about it. This very clearly impacted how they voted in this election.

    I’m relieved its all over. Now if you guys could just take care of Trump my political anxiety could return to normal levels!!!

    • jen d. says:

      Yes!!

      I know he was chosen as leader for other reasons, but I can’t help thinking that a motivating factor was the idea that he was some kind of foil for Trudeau. He’s not – he’s weak willed and didn’t run on an appealing platform. I feel like they will eventually replace him, but it will take some time. I don’t mind them weak, but they have an opportunity to really work him now and I doubt they’re up to the task. Which is fine! This leaves room for left-leaning parties to have more influence.

  23. Andrea says:

    Not the total results I would have wanted, but at least no Scheer. He would have been a disaster, not unlike Trump.

  24. TheOriginalMia says:

    My Canadian friend said the lack of a majority would keep him in check. She was pleased with the results.

    • Arpeggi says:

      And she’s right. The libs get too comfortable too quickly and their “Natural governing party of Canada” stance gets to their head too quickly. So we end up with stuff like SNC-Lavalin or (far worst) the sponsorship scandal of the late 90’s and then we’re stuck with the Conservatives who are just as corrupt (but somehow it’s accepted in their case) until the libs get their stuff together again… So yeah for a strong minority government!!

  25. Steff says:

    Alberta’s strong support for conservatives is no surprise. You got a mixture of fiscal conservatives who want to do what’s best for their economy and ignorant rednecks. My sister lives in Northern Alberta (bless her) and she says the hate for Trudeau there is intense.

    • jen d. says:

      I kind of thought Alberta would have shown more support for the People’s Party. Oh well!!

    • A says:

      The hate for Trudeau is actually quite scary, and all this after he went out of his way to buy them their stupid pipeline and tried to force BC to expand it. Alberta had a great thing going with Rachel Notley, and of course they chose Jason Kenney instead. The hate that Rachel Notley got was also terrifying. And now some Albertans are making noise abt “””separating””” from Canada, because of course, they’ll be able to do better if they’re their own country, even though they’re landlocked, surrounded on all sides by Canada and the US, and have no economy to speak of outside of the oil industry and they don’t care to have anything aside from it either.

      • Lady D says:

        Premier Rachel Notley banning the sale the BC wine in Alberta over the pipeline, will go down as one of the pettiest moves ever seen by a politician.
        Not as petty as Trump fingering female astronauts, but close.

      • DM2 says:

        Yeah — “Wexit” was trending last night. Good luck with that.

      • Gisele says:

        The Alberta economy has always cycled from boom to bust as well. Oil isn’t infinite and they seem to forget that.

      • A says:

        @Lady D, my favourite part of that story was that after she banned the sale of BC wine, Quebec started to buy and advertise BC wine in direct response to that, because they supported them in opposing the pipeline. Outstanding and hilarious.

      • sammiches says:

        My riding is the only NDP in the entire province, and the joke going around is that we will have an “Edmonton Strathcona separatist movement” and our country will be named Notleygrad.

      • Tigerlily says:

        As a rural Albertan (but born & raised in the city) I just smh at the hate for Rachel Notley. She wasn’t given a decent chance and honestly the previous (ahem…..Conservative) administrations had made a dog’s breakfast out of the books. Jason Kenney is almost as scary to me as Andrew Scheer. I had worked for the Feds in the latter 20 years of my career and he was such an ahole. Then he takes off his 3 piece suit and puts on jeans and cowboy hat; trades in chauffeured limo for a pick up truck and Albertans fall for it and “Oh! He’s one of us!”…..LOL because if I don’t laugh I’ll cry.

    • Jordana says:

      It’s not all Albertans…I have never voted Conservative. Unfortunately, many Albertans have this false belief that only the Conservatives can rescue oil and gas. They need a history lesson. Securing oil and mineral rights in Alberta was achieved by the Social Credit party decades ago. Conservatives blew through the Alberta Heritage fund, a fund that was supposed to protect us from the boom and bust. Did they manage it well? No look at Norway’s practices with their “oil and gas” fund. And the NDP, when they were in power provincially, performed well for the province, after inheriting a horrible mess.
      Before anyone argues with these points, and if you live in Alberta, please go and educate yourself. Conservatives are not the saviors of the West.

  26. Cay says:

    Melania spent the night “celebrating alone” and reworking her schedule so she can be at all the international events with him.

  27. EviesMom says:

    Canada does good things with minority governments. In the 1960s during Lester Pearson’s terms with minority governments Canada brought in universal health care, Canada Pension Plan, students loans and the iconic maple leaf flag! Very happy my riding went liberal & trilled with a minority parliament.

    In my neighbourhood we had a few ‘loud & proud’ yellow vest wannabes protesting at overpasses. I always tooK the time to Honk loudly and flip the bird. The clutching of pearls was hilarious. I have no time or manners for racist whites who besmirch my hood.

  28. Sasha says:

    Canadian here and Trudeau supporter. Let me just correct you:

    – He didn’t lose the majority because of the brown-face scandal AT ALL
    – The reason COnservatives ( his opponent) won the inner provinces is due to the pipeline holdup, which has sent the majority of the population who work in that field into unemployment.
    – Perhaps the split portfolio will help us keep what’s good about Trudeau while allowing the pipeline to go through
    – Although pipeline does pose a POTENTIAL threat to environment, OIL is a major industry in ALberta, and people DO NEED JOBS… You can’t retrain these millions for tech side jobs

    • A says:

      “He didn’t lose the majority because of the brown-face scandal” I mean…that’s not exactly a ringing endorsement…what this says to me is that the majority of the Liberals who voted for Trudeau don’t actually think his idiotic racism was a big deal, and that people complain too much. So.

      Oil is a dying industry in Alberta. The world is increasingly moving away from fossil fuel consumption, and Alberta can’t force people to buy their oil, no matter how many pipelines they build through peoples’ backyards. The best they can do right now is diversify their economy, esp in the face of climate change, but of course they’re not going to do that.

      • Oui oki says:

        I voted for Liberal because it’s the best realistic choice for Canada. My bf is arab and he did too, he knows about the Arabian nights scandal. Like Obama has implied, We need to save the planet and we don’t need a dumb buddy for Donald trump up here so they can ruin our continent and its waterways together .
        It’s not only the brown and black face (20 years ago) we had to ignore, he has done more disturbing than that RECENTLY:
        -breaking the promise about election reform, one of his most popular promises 🙁
        -Fundraising in Vancouver before becoming PM at a private party with very rich chinese nationals including communist party members
        – something sketchy in the Caribbean with very rich “family friends” I can’t remember the details as it’s been a couple years now but it looked bad
        -the corruption scandal (snc lavalin)

      • A says:

        If the goal is to save the planet, Trudeau is not the best person to put in power. He insists that he cares about the environment, while still spending money and pushing hard to expand pipelines and the oil industry. You cannot do that and claim to care about the environment.

        Canada is not a two party country. We have more than two parties, and the there were at least two others that had a significantly more necessary stance on climate change that we desperately need right now.

      • pinetree13 says:

        Guys, if oil isn’t sent by pipe, it’s still sent, it just goes by rail or trucks which is WORSE for the environment. I litterally work in the environmental industry and pipeline has the lowest carbon footprint of the other options.

  29. Gisele says:

    Andrew Scheer refused to stand for the Canadian anthem when it was changed back to it’s original version to make it gender inclusive. He’s a religious fanatic, refugee hating, climate change denying, homophobic puke, who would be thrilled to take away the reproductive rights of women and who has never been anything but a career politician. His supporters were chanting “lock him up”, about Justin Trudeau, at his last rally and I actually found it terrifying to think that Canada could be dragged in to the political hellscape that the US has become under Trump. My relief that he wasn’t elected PM is overwhelming. Trudeau is far from perfect, but the Liberal Party are at least progressive and now they’ll have to work with the NDP and Green Party to get things done.Minority governments have actually brought about some really great things for Canadian the past. For me, if it came to down to the best leader, Jagmeet Singh would win hands down.

    • jen d. says:

      Agree with all of this!

    • buenavissta says:

      Agree, Gisele. I voted Green (Yay for May!), but would have voted NDP if I weren’t in her riding. Jagmeet came out of this looking like the the leader he will become. He’s not ready for PM yet and I’m looking forward to seeing how he uses the seats they do have. This is a good result and I’m relieved. Could’ve been much worse.

      • Gisele says:

        My parents live in BC and voted for him. They’ve never voted for the Federal NDP party in their lives. He won them over. He’s fantastic. Also a big hurray for Fredericton NB electing Jennica Atwin for the Green Party. It’s good to see Greem east of BC.

    • Snazzy says:

      this this this this this. And this

    • Dougie says:

      Wow, I’m from Andy’s home riding and have met him numerous times. This is a very accurate description. He’s a joke, but has somehow managed to fail upward his entire adult life. He’s a weird dude.

      • wellsie says:

        Interesting, but not surprising.

      • Gisele says:

        That must be annoying to witness. The ever present smug look on his face is another thing about him that makes me dislike him intensely. He’s truly one of the most unlikeable and insufferable party leaders ever. He strikes me as someone who literally does not give a rats ass about anyone else’s life experience. His tiny minded opinions are to be shoved down everyone’s throat. because he’s so morally superior according to his narrow, deluded value system.

    • sammiches says:

      Scheer looks like he keeps people chained up in his basement.

  30. A says:

    Couple things–a Liberal minority is not actually a bad thing. I think it means that they’ll have to form more alliances with the NDP to get legislation passed, which actually gives the NDP quite a bit more leverage in the parliament in terms of enacting their agenda than they would have had in a Liberal majority government, where Trudeau would have had enough in the parliament to pass whatever legislation he wants and block any legislation brought forth by other parties. The NDP is considerably more left-leaning than Trudeau has proven himself to be (his image abroad notwithstanding–emphasis on the notwithstanding), so I think this can only be good in terms of preventing the Liberals from buying up every last pipeline under the sun and subjecting the rest of the country to the whims of Alberta’s oil barons.

    Second, I think this election more than anything else is proof positive that the first past the post system NEEDS to go. I’ll never forget that Trudeau campaigned heavily on electoral reform in 2015…and then forgot all about it when FPTP conveniently handed him a majority and he decided that he didn’t want to change it after all. We desperately need a different type of voting system to more equitably represent the diverse range of opinions in our country.

    Which brings me to the Bloc Quebecois–from what I can understand, they didn’t actually campaign on a platform promoting Quebec sovereignty this time around. They’re working off the backs of the support in the province for the provincial party, Parti Quebecois, which is known for being a racist, bigoted mess that voted to ban religious clothing for public sector workers while sitting in a legislature with a ginormous cross on the wall (but that’s different you see, because Catholicism is central to Quebecois identity, which makes it okay, because Quebecois identity is only for white people and not for all of those dirty disgusting brown people with their turbans and their hijabs and their whatever else). A huge part of the reason why the NDP didn’t pick up more seats in Quebec is because of racism, as well as the fact that the BQ is not exactly vocal about championing sovereignty this time around. What really gets my goat is that the BQ got 32(?) seats in parliament even though only a fraction of their vote share came from Quebec, while the NDP got 8% of the votes nation wide, and wound up with only 25 seats. Also, the BQ, being a sovereignty party, does not campaign outside of Quebec at all, and they still got 32 seats to NDP’s 25. First Past the Post needs to go, it had to go yesterday, and it needs to go tomorrow, and as I said, I will never ever forget that Trudeau did what was politically expedient to HIM as opposed to what’s actually good for the rest of the country. Here’s hoping he does better this second go around, because god knows, he actually stood to lose this election, and it’s something of a miracle that he didn’t.

    • LAB says:

      Your 2nd point is why I’m pretty sure my riding went from red to blue. ( also, Albertans love conservative nonsense) We know the election is decided by the east. FPTP means we can go any which way and have it not matter, election reform would be a game changer

      And, now the bets start for when Kenney says f-u to Alberta and runs for Federal Leadership.

    • yay! says:

      Honestly, there should be legislation making election promises count is a verbal contract between the politician making them and voters. In business this would be illegal, a bait and switch. I mean, a politician could promise flying unicorns farting rainbows and money for all – and there would be no problem!

    • Arpeggi says:

      While I agree with your 1st and 2nd paragraph, I have issues with your 3rd.

      About the Bloc: they aren’t riding on the Parti Quebecois’ support, they had more votes %-wise in Quebec than what the PQ received in the last provincial election. The PQ currently has 10 seats in Quebec out of 125, it’s a dying party and that’s largely due to the fact that its base are babyboomers that are also aging and disappearing. Sovereignty in Quebec will always be backed by at least 30% of the population and that’s where it polls at the moment, it’s not a popular option and everyone agrees that there are more pressing issues than independence right now and so the Bloc wasn’t hiding that it’s a sovereignist party but, there won’t be a referendum anytime soon so why bring it up? The Bloc can still do a good job as a watchdog; it did so when Duceppe was the leader during the sponsorship scandal and that actually benefited all of Canada. The Bloc won seats because it’s leader actually ran a decent campaign and because many in Qc didn’t want to vote for either Trudeau or Scheer and neither the NDP or the Greens seemed like a viable option for those people living in suburbia and rural areas (Montreal and Laval remains mostly Lib and my riding remained orange; we didn’t vote for the CAQ either, we voted lib and Quebec Solidaire). Did xenophobia played a part in the NDP losing seats? Of course it did, but they lost seats everywhere, not just in Qc! D’you seriously think that xenophobia wasn’t part of the reason they lost seats in BC and Ontario and it was only the case in QC?!? Yes the PQ value charter was gross (the PQ lost power because of it btw) and I can’t wait to see the CAQ’s Bill 21 overthrown by the Supreme Court but c’mon! I’m not sure I understand why you’re upset about the number of seats the Bloc won vs the % of the vote though. The Bloc is a regional party who only has candidates in Quebec so of course they can’t have a big % of the votes overall since they’re only present in 23% of the ridings; under a proportional system, they would still have somewhere between 25-30 seats, they haven’t stole anything from the NDP.

  31. ooshpick says:

    Thank goodness we can live with less shame than if the result had meant a conservative victory. Things could have been a lot worse.

  32. Busyann says:

    I am really happy to hear this! I heard on NPR this morning that people see Justin’s ability to retain his seat as a rejection of Trumps populism. In spite of the controversy people didnt want to rock the boat. I think people are really craving politicians that can do the work and represent their country well. Justin checks both of those boxes.

    • A says:

      I wouldn’t say that they’re rejecting populism tbh, especially not with how much the Bloc Quebecois, a party w/ an arguably populist/nationalist/separatist platform won 32 seats in the parliament. I think people are just interested in protecting the status quo and the best way to do that is through re-electing Trudeau.

    • OriginalLala says:

      It’s a rejection of a far-right, socially-conservative populism for sure though.

    • Maxie says:

      Justin gets elected because he isn’t Stephen Harper. The Liberals could’ve done better with another leader.

  33. LindaS says:

    Just to let posters know that I am a rural person in Alberta and I am not a hillbilly. I am a hard working farmer. Unlike peoples beliefs not everyone here is involved in the oil patch. I am happy this election is over. A lot of nastiness. I am 65 yo and never remember our country being this divided. Alberta is beautiful. It has some of the most visited national parks in the world. I just hope our government can work together for the betterment of all of us and all of our country.

    • Oui oki says:

      I like your parks and have met several nice intelligent and liberal people from your province 🙂

      • LindaS says:

        Thank you. I love my province and I love all parts of our great country. I dont have preconceived ideas about people in other parts of the country. And just so you all know Albertans are not all rednecks and hillbillies.

    • Scotchy says:

      I grew up on the BC/Alberta border, my closest friends are from Alberta, it is most certainly NOT full of hicks, however most of those progressive Albertans left Alberta because well, it’s full of people that are living in a delusional state and got convinced that fossil fuels are forever. Then a lot of those folks due to white male toxicity believed that they didn’t need to learn new skills, when their oil jobs were lost and now sit in resentment and the idea that the glory old days can be once again. It’s a difficult cycle. I only hope Albertan youth can grow up to be a little more forward thinking. Again, I too personally find BC and Alberta to be two of the most beautiful provinces full of great people and I too hope the government can work together and well a minority government forces them to do so. Fingers crossed positive change can happen.

  34. Snazzy says:

    When I woke up this morning I was afraid to check the election results (Canadian living in Switzerland here!). Thank goodness Scheer lost

  35. Charfromdarock says:

    I am so relieved the Conservatives didn’t win.
    I am ELATED that the PPC were completely shut out.

    My riding unsurprisingly went orange and the province red. It’s been decades since we’ve elected anyone on the right.

    I’m hoping (naively?) that everyone can work together for Canada and that the government will stand for a few years.

  36. hogtowngooner says:

    I’m so thankful the PPC walked away with nothing and Bernier embarassed himself. I have a troll on my Twitter TL that joined the PPC and I’m not gonna lie, I’ve viewed a couple of his tweets last night/this morning with a healthy does of schadenfreude.

  37. Inthenow says:

    I am disappointed that people got fooled by Trudueau again. The PC’s needed a better leader than Scheer and hopefully this lost means they will elect someone not aligned with nazis and the far right.

  38. Charfromdarock says:

    Interesting, the Sussex Instagram has a post about One Young World today. The header pic is Meghan and JT.

  39. Kk2 says:

    As an American, I find this discussion fascinating. I wish we had more parties.

    • LindaS says:

      @adrien Trudeau will form the government but in order to get a majority he needed 170 seats accross the country but he got less so its a minority govt. Will need help from other parties to pass some bills. The average a minority lasts in Canada is 1 year, 7 months years before the government fails and a new election would have to be called. The longest its ever lasted is 3 years, 7 months. The shortest was a few months before an election needed to be called.

  40. Adrien says:

    I don’t understand Canadian politics. You are saying JT is now an actual minority?

    • picalin says:

      I virtually never comment, long-timer (Canadian) lurker, but I LOVE this comment, I laughed out loud all by myself and will be repeating this to all my friends/falukt several times.

  41. JustMe says:

    IF the Conservative party wants back into the leadership of the country they had better start rebuilding and clear out the hard core Reformists out of the party. They managed to get Harper elected (twice!!) and Canada still has not recovered from everything he did to undermine the country (deep cuts to public service, very little environmental regulations, science and environment almost off the agenda).

    This election was a clear cut example of ABC (Anyone But Conservative) in many areas. We knew West was going to be more blue but i was thrilled to see a Green elected in Fredericton. We have Green in our provincial legislature and its great to see as well.

    But ya watch The Family on Netflix if you want an explanation for how people like Harper and Sheer rise to power in the ranks of their parties. They are very obviously backed by people with an agenda.

  42. Jenna says:

    As a Canadian, this comments section is (mostly) making me proud today because (most) of comments are civil and intelligent. As long as we can keep talking, and agree that no politician is going to everything to everyone, we are going to be okay!

  43. The Other Katherine says:

    Scheer is a straight-up fascist, so thank God.

  44. sherry says:

    The Liberals may not have a majority, but I am proud of my country for its statement that a Conservative government is not acceptable, especially in the times in which we live.

  45. Blueskies says:

    Very happy with the result and that it’s a minority government, it’ll be interesting to see what is achieved through that. I hope it holds for the next three years at least. I don’t think we’ll see another election called for a long time. I live in a strongly Conservative riding in the Ottawa Valley and our MP has kept her seat for over 20 years now. She was a no-show at the joint party debate and is a terrible person in general but she keeps being handed her seat, no problem. At least she goes back with little power. I miss the days of voting NDP and have strategically voted Liberal a few times now. I’d love to see a change in the landscape but it’s difficult to see right now. Still, I am proud to see a majority of my fellow Canadians are left-leaning, rejecting of the far right and voted for mostly status quo and stability. It is needed right now and it does send a clear message to the rest of the world.

  46. Alicesrightfoot says:

    Manitoban here, just popping in to say please remember that broad terms like “the West” (and associated terms like “hick or hillbilly”) are very broad generalizations and not really true.

    There may have been no liberal seats won in Alberta and Saskatchewan, but many folks there still voted for other parties and their efforts shouldn’t be discounted. In Manitoba, rural areas are generally blue but also orange in the North and red in many parts of Winnipeg.

  47. Anna says:

    Well, last term my local liberal MP (a woman) voted in favour of veterans affairs paying for the PTSD treatment of a man convicted of raping and murdering a local female RCMP officer and hiding her body in a compost bin. He got PTSD from the act of raping and murdering her. And my local MP endorsed veterans affairs to pay for his treatment.

    Any woman who votes for that just to tow the party line is an absolute disgrace. Liberals have been hypocritical and untrustworthy. There was no good choice this election.

  48. Babs says:

    Naaah, none of all the voters I know cared for who had the brightest star power. We just voted the Libs back because we didn’t care for a Doug Ford premier + a Andrew Sheerer Prime Minister. It’s bad enough to have DF as Premier, it’d be a nightmare having 2 Cons in two highest offices, they’re both very destructive and care little if not none about this country. Plus, many of us never bought into the faux outrage on our behalf about black\brown face but to each their own. I’m so glad Trudeau is back in office and I’m very confident that he and his govt will work on correcting what went wrong, there’s always lots of room for improvement. Go Libs.

  49. Jessica says:

    i Hope Alberta separates from Canada. They deserve so much better than what they get in return for making sure you all have enough oil and gas to heat your homes and bitch on the internet. It’s completely disgusting how you treat Alberta. We are supposed to be on the same team. I can’t even imagine casting a vote for Trudeau. Fake feminist, liar, black face wearing , sleeping with under age girls, has had multiple ethics violations – but sure – Alberta is the problem. Again I can’t wait for them to separate. Go it alone people. I have never felt more uninspired to be a Canadian. News flash the people of Alberta are humans. Canadians. And they work their asses off so you can sit in your warm houses. You don’t deserve them.