Election Section: Canada’s Trudeau Wins Minority Government
When first elected as the Canadian Prime Minister in 2015, Justin Trudeau was a breath of fresh air for a country that for 9 years had been governed by the Conservative Stephen Harper. He was young, charismatic, progressive, and completely unlike the traditionally understated style of politics Canada has. That year, the Liberal Party won 184 seats in the House of Commons, up from 36 in the previous election, and Trudeau won 39.5% of the popular vote.
On Tuesday, the country held their 43rd general election. Justin Trudeau lost his House majority as well as the popular vote by a slight margin, leaving the Liberal Party to form a minority government. He thus remains Canada’s Prime Minister, but his narrow victory reflects his declining popularity over the recent spate of and scandals.
One of these involves the engineering firm SNC Lavalin charged with corruption, and efforts by Trudeau’s government to pressure the former Attorney General to hand down a lighter punishment, an improper political interference in justice matters. The other involves multiple pictures of Trudeau wearing blackface/brownface resurfacing, with him eventually admitting that he has lost count of the number of times he has worn it.
In this context, it’s clear to see how his reputation as a progressive hero has eroded. The Attorney General that he tried to pressue into giving SNC Lavalin a less harsh sentence, and later demoted for not willing to do so, was at the time the most senior government official who is a member of the First Nation. His brownface incidence brings to mind his uncomfortably costume-like attire when visiting India, for which he then explained that he has always “been more enthusiastic about costumes than is sometimes appropriate.”
It’s safe to say that Canadians are choosing to keep in in office because he is simply better than the alternative.
Without a House majority to pass legislation on their own, the Liberal Party will have to form a coalition with other parties, likely the left-wing New Democratic Party.
