TORONTO (AP) Prime Minister Justin Trudeau won a second term in Canadas national elections, losing the majority but saying today he was given a clear mandate despite an increasingly divided Parliament and nation.
Trudeaus Liberal Party took the most seats in Parliament. However Trudeau fell short of a majority, so the Liberals would have to rely on an opposition party to pass legislation
With results still trickling in early today, the Liberals had 157 seats, while the Conservatives had 121.
Still, Trudeaus Liberal Party won fewer raw votes nationally than the Conservatives did, and his party failed to win a single seat in the western provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan where the Conservatives dominated.
The prime minister showed up at a Montreal subway station on Tuesday morning to greet Canadians and take selfies.
Trudeau said Canadians rejected division and negativity and elected a progressive agenda.
But in what was supposed to be a concession speech, the Conservative leader Scheer said the results showed Trudeau was much weakened since his 2015 election, when pundits had predicted the beginning of another Trudeau dynasty after a decade of Conservative government.
Conservatives have put Justin Trudeau on notice, Scheer said. And Mr. Trudeau, when your government falls, Conservatives will be ready and we will win.
Trudeau delivered an unexpectedly strong result despite a series of scandals that tarnished his image as a liberal icon.
Its not quite the same as 2015, when Trudeau first took offce. Its not all owing to the leader, said Robert Bothwell, a professor of Canadian history and international relations at the University of Toronto.
Trudeau is prime minister because the rest of the party was able to pull itself together and prevail. While Trudeau certainly deserves credit for what has happened hes really going to have to demonstrate qualities that he hasnt yet shown.
Trudeaus clean-cut image had taken a hit after old photos of him in blackface and brownface surfaced last month.
Im surprised at how well Trudeau has done, said Nelson Wiseman, a political science professor at the University of Toronto. I dont think anybody expected Trudeau to get a majority, but they are not that far off.
Perhaps sensing Trudeau was in trouble, Barack Obama made an unprecedented endorsement by a former American president in urging Canadians to re-elect Trudeau. The son of liberal icon and late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau is one of the few remaining progressive world leaders in the Trump era.
The unassuming Scheer, 40, is a career politician who was seen as a possible antidote to Trudeaus flash. But Bothwell said late Monday that he expected Scheer to resign.
