Canada PM Trudeau’s bid for majority fails

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday acknowledged he will need to work with other parties after he fell short of winning a majority in parliamentary elections, leaving him once more dependent on opposition legislators to govern.

Trudeau, 49, was re-elected to a third term late Monday after calling a vote two years early, hoping for approval of his free-spending response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since 2019 he had been working with a minority, forced to make deals with other parties to push through legislation.

But provisional results showed virtually no change from the 2019 election, delivering up another minority and begging the question of why Trudeau had called a vote that the official opposition Conservative Party portrayed as a cynical power grab.

Trudeau, in power since 2015, said he had a clear mandate to continue the path to recovery. He will once again rely on the support of the smaller left-leaning New Democrats to govern.

“You have given this Parliament and this government clear directions,” he told supporters in Montreal. Just hours later, he greeted supporters outside a metro station in his constituency, continuing a post-election tradition.

Provisional results showed the Liberals ahead in 158 constituencies, known as ridings, short of the 170 Trudeau needed to control the 338-seat House of Commons. The Conservatives were on 119 with the New Democrats on 25.
MONTREAL, (Reuters) 21 September 2021