I heard you. Justin Trudeau believes he now has a “clear mandate” to deliver on his “progressive” post-pandemic promises after a summer election campaign changed the political map of Canada only slightly, leaving the minority Liberal government in parliament Has.

“One no longer feels like talking about politics and elections. They want us to focus on what we need to do,” Justin Trudeau translated to around 200 handpicked supporters in a conference room at Montreal’s Queen Elizabeth Hotel just after 1 a.m. Tuesday.

The re-elected prime minister delivered a unifying speech and pledged to pay particular attention to voters who voted for his opponents. He thanked his mother, wife Sophie and children before quoting former Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier that we must now look to the future for “a brighter new day”.

Justin Trudeau had arrived at the hotel late in the afternoon accompanied by his family, dressed in sandals, a tank top and three-quarter length pants, holding a gym bag and carrying his son Xavier on the other hand. He needed to know the popular verdict, namely whether he would succeed in forming a majority government or at least elect enough MPs to have a “strong mandate” to face the pandemic and its aftermath.

Sober evening of victory

Inside the Queen Elizabeth, virtually no liberal activists spent their evening in the room where Justin Trudeau was scheduled to speak, requiring health restrictions. Journalists and TV crews were the only ones busy in front of a stage adorned with two large Canadian flags and a screen broadcasting the Liberal slogan “Let’s Move Forward Together”.

The evening promised to be long. Well aware of recent polls, the Liberals were expecting a mixed victory: taking first place in the number of seats but still remaining in the minority. Ultimately, as forecasts indicated, Ottawa’s Liberal MPs should be identical or close to those of 2019 (157 elected, with 155 in office before the House was dissolved in August). The Liberals nevertheless insisted on presenting the end result as a success.

“It is a privilege to lead Canada. I won’t be picky because he has a minority seat,” House leader Pablo Rodriguez said ahead of the results. Honoré-Mercier’s MP, who was later easily re-elected, refused to describe a possible loss of seats by his party as a “defeat”.

“It’s never defeat when people trust us to run Canada’s fortunes. It’s never a defeat. »

The publication of the first results in the Atlantic indicated a loss of some seats for the Liberals. The huge screens broadcast images of long queues in front of the polling stations. No activist had yet arrived on the Queen Elizabeth to respond to the release of results from Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba and Alberta. Gradually, maps of Quebec’s 78 electoral districts and Greater Toronto’s fifty or so electoral districts turned color on the large screens that illuminated a room that would have been nearly empty without the media. Nobody applauded.

Few changes in Quebec

In the end, the results in Quebec were little different from previous elections. Several Liberal cabinet ministers and MPs were re-elected or well ahead at the time these lines were written. Such is the case of Diane Lebouthillier (Gaspésie–Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine), Élisabeth Brière (Sherbrooke), François-Philippe Champagne (Saint-Maurice–Champlain), Jean-Yves Duclos (Québec) and Soraya Martinez Ferrada ( High Elaga).

Minister Steven Guilbeault had a lead of a few hundred votes in Laurier-Sainte-Marie, as did Florence Gagnon in Longueuil-Saint-Hubert. Liberal MNA Brenda Shanahan trailed Bloc Québécois Patrick O’Hara in Châteauguay-Lacolle.

While it was clear that Justin Trudeau’s troops would elect most MPs to the House of Commons, it remained very uncertain throughout the evening whether the Liberal Party would elect more MPs than in the previous House.

“I think people spoke tonight and people are always right,” said Mélanie Joly, reacting to her party not getting the parliamentary majority she had hoped for. ” She [la population] told us two things tonight: they want a progressive government, and they also want us to work with the other parties.”

Pablo Rodriguez is ensuring his leader’s leadership does not emerge weakened by the democratic exercise he himself initiated. Justin Trudeau still has the support of Caucus and Liberal members, “100%,” he said. Invited to comment on the course of the liberal election campaign, which has been bombarded with questions about the merits of calling summer elections amid a pandemic and which has seen a crescendo of hostile demonstrations, Pablo Rodriguez retains a salient fact: the question of moderating the debate in English.

“What I didn’t expect was the debate in English, which shocked me deeply as a Quebecer with this question,” he said. At the end of the campaign, Justin Trudeau multiplied statements of affiliation with Quebec and even demanded an apology from host Shachi Kurl for a question that was seen as offensive to Quebecers.

Surprised and disappointed by the support of Quebec Premier François Legault, Pablo Rodriguez ensures his government will not alter its commitments to Quebec in any way. “We will work together, we are used to working together,” added Mélanie Joly.

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