Can you feel the change in the air? After one of the longest, most grueling Canadian campaign seasons ever, clocking in at 78 days, we finally took to the polls to vote on Monday October 19. There were many ups and downs along the way, but after the dust settled, the Liberal Party of Canada appears to have won a convincing majority, and their leader Justin Trudeau looks likely to be sworn in as the twenty-third Prime Minister of Canada. Thus marks the end of nine years under the leadership of Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party of Canada.
At the beginning of the campaign, Thomas Mulcair and the New Democratic Party (NDP) looked to be in the lead for the first time in history, with some polls showing them having as much as 40% of popular support. Traditionally, the NDP have been far below the Liberals and Conservatives in popularity, but they gained considerable support in the last election at the expense of the collapsing Liberals. However, as the campaign dragged on, support for the NDP began to wane, and the Conservatives took the lead. Even this was not to last, though, and by the last week before the election, the Liberals and Conservatives looked to be neck and neck, the Liberals just barely ahead in the polls.
The primary issues of the campaign were initially immigration and the economy. The government had just passed the controversial Bill C-24, which included a provision to possibly revoke citizenship from dual citizens convicted of terrorism, espionage or treason. Additionally, the economy has officially been in a recession since last quarter. Another point of contention was the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a proposed trade agreement between Canada and eleven other countries on both sides of the Pacific Ocean. However, by the end of the campaign, all of these issues had been supplanted in the public consciousness by the seemingly trivial question of whether new citizens should be allowed to wear the niqab, a Muslim female veil, during their citizenship ceremony.
Trudeau won the election on the back of a campaign built on a foundation of optimism and change. It appears the Canadian public has grown wary of Harper, and looked for a new face to lead the country. However, Trudeau faces large challenges that he will have to tackle now, such as an economy in recession. Trudeau is the son of legendary Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, but he himself is relatively new to the realm of politics. This newness allowed him to push his campaign of change, but he is untested and it remains to be seen how effective he will be in the Prime Minister’s chair. He will have a cabinet to guide his decisions and faces no challenges in the House of Commons. As the saying goes, out with the old, in with the new. In the coming years, we will see if Trudeau will be able to guide Canada in the right direction. I, for one, am cautiously optimistic.
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