Canadians have spoken and it will once again be another minority Liberal government.
Justin Trudeau has been given another mandate and the seat count basically didn’t change a bit from last election.
In his victory speech just after midnight, Trudeau said, “You are sending us back to work with a clear mandate to get Canada through this pandemic and to the brighter days ahead and my friends that’s exactly what we are ready to do. There are still votes to be counted but what we’ve seen tonight is that millions of Canadians have chosen a progressive plan.”
He adds, “Some have talked about division but that’s not what I see. That’s not what I’ve seen these past weeks across the country. I see Canadians standing together. Together in your determination to end this pandemic. Together for real climate action. For $10 a day childcare. For homes that are in reach for middle-class families. For our shared journey on the path of reconciliation. As Canadians you’ve elected parliamentarians to deliver on all this and our team, our government, is ready.”
Trudeau says the government will have the back of all Canadians, no matter how they voted, stressing voters have given them a clear mandate.
He says he understands people want more daycare spaces, a stronger health care system, affordable housing, investments for the middle-class and good green jobs.
Erin O’Toole of the Conservatives was second in voting.
O’Toole said, “Canadians have spent too many sleepness nights about worrying about people close to them, the loss of jobs, and the future of their children. The pandemic has increased the small differences between us and is has also aggravated the division amongst Canadians. Unfortunately, this election has only made things worse. I’m here tonight, once again, more determined to fight for our wonderful country. Five weeks ago, mister Trudeau asked for a majority. He said the minority parliament was quote ‘unworkable’. But tonight, Canadians did not give mister Trudeau the majority mandate he wanted. In fact, Canadians sent him back with another minority at the cost of $600 million and deeper divisions in our great country. Just days ago, he said he would hold yet another election with 18 months if he didn’t get his way.”
He says the next 18 months will be another period on constant campaigning.
O’Toole says Canada has become divided and stresses we need to heal that sentiment.
NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, who won in his B.C. riding of Burnaby South, was third.
In his concession speech, Singh said, “I want to say that Canadians know that you can count on the New Democrats to continue fighting for you. As we’ve fought for you in the pandemic when times are difficult, when people were struggling, when people were worried about their future. We were there for you.”
He added, “Friends, I want you to know that our fight will continue. We are never going to give up fighting for you and your families, as we have done in the pandemic as we showed you in this campaign, we will continue to make sure you are first, your families are taken care of, that your needs are met. That’s what New Democrats are all about.”
Singh promised to step up the fight for Indigenous rights, clean drinking water, the environment, climate change, affordable housing, and proper health care.
One of the early stories was the Green party where leader Annamie Paul finished fourth in her Toronto Centre riding.
Paul thanked supporters and volunteers for their work during the campaign, congratulating the two confirmed Green candidates elected to the House of Commons.
She used her time to criticize the Trudeau government for calling an election.
“The people of Canada have decided to send essentially the same MP’s back, in the same proportions to parliament. They are sending back another minority government, in basically the same numbers that we have seen before. So, we are now back to the status quo. I would say that we are back to the status quo expect that we are returning, unfortunately, more divided, and more polarized than before this election was called. That is certainly part of the legacy of this election that I will say we shouldn’t have had. Unfortunately, there’s some divisions that were created by the calling of this election. There will be work to be done in order to repair this divisiveness. We need to ensure that whatever wounds were created during this election are not permanent because the people of Canada clearly are saying we want you to work together, we want you to collaborate, you have got to find a way to do that, and you have got to find a way to deliver us the help we need for the rest of this pandemic.”
The People’s Party of Canada has yet to gain a seat in the federal election and leader Maxime Bernier lost his bid to get elected in the Quebec riding of Beauce.
Bernier previously represented the riding south of Quebec City from 2006 to 2019.
Despite the result he says, “Tonight we’ve made history. We will never be the same again. When we started this campaign five weeks ago everyone thought we would only be a foot note. At the beginning the media did not even cover us and then they had to start paying attention. Yes, they have to start paying attention because thousands of Canadians were coming to our rallies all across the country. Everywhere we looked you could see purple, a purple wave, a sea of purple. My friends this is not just a political party, it is a movement, it is a revolution that we are starting now.”
Bernier went on to say enough is enough with COVID restrictions and increased spending and stressed Canadians just want to have their normal lives back, stressing it’s time for an end to the tyranny and a return to freedom.
He stressed the People’s Party has become the only real opposition party in the country.
Bernier adds if we were under a proportional voting system, his party would have had a better day at the polls.
Bloc Quebecois leader Yves-Francois Blanchet says tonight we are still in a pandemic, and we have the exact same government.
He used his speech to talk about the vote and its impact on Quebec.
Blanchet says provinces have been held hostage with health care pay transfers and downloading and he won’t give up that fight.
He says, “In the next few days I will be reaching out to all the leaders of the other parties in the House of Commons, and I think it’s now our duty to act in good faith and to have a discussion to make sure that parliament works this time. We are still in a pandemic. Now this parliament will have to last an acceptable length of time and to do that we will have to put some of our resentment behind us because it is clearly what Canadians have told us they want.”
As of 6:40 a.m. ET:
Leading:
Liberals: 158 (32.2% of votes)
Conservatives: 119 (34% of votes)
Bloc Quebecois: 34 (7.7% of votes)
NDP: 25 (17.7% of votes)
Green: 2 (8.4% of votes)
