Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau celebrates his narrow election victory as a success. Yet, in fact, he managed to stay in power largely thanks to the complicated Canadian electoral system … and a lack of competition.
Judging from the mood and words at Trudeau’s ‘victory’ party, one could be forgiven for not knowing that his Liberals lost over 1 million votes compared to 2015, or that their share of the popular vote around the country plummeted by over 6 points.
In Canada’s flawed electoral system, the Liberals won 33% of votes, but 46% of the seats. The Conservatives won 34.5% of the popular vote, but 37% of the seats and the center-left NDP, obtained just 7% of seats with 16% of votes.
It would be nearly impossible to know you were celebrating the win for the party that actually got the second largest number of votes! The numbers obviously tell a different story, in addition to numerous other indications from election night that show Canadians are not happy with Justin Trudeau.
Jody Wilson-Raybould, Trudeau’s former attorney general who quit Trudeau’s cabinet due to their attempts to interfere with her office’s investigation into a criminal case against Quebec-based construction company, SNC-Lavalin, ran and won as an independent.
She left the Liberals in protest, and was rewarded by the electorate for her move. Pundits from all political stripes on election night acknowledged that Trudeau’s appeal had “lost its luster,” but in spite of this, he will be returning to 24 Sussex Drive to serve a second term as Canada’s prime minister.
So how is it that Canadians can be simultaneously pissed off at someone, and vote them back in? In short, the Liberals didn’t exactly get voted back in.
Back in 2015 Trudeau said he would do away with the ‘first past the post’ system, but reneged on his pledge, precisely because it disproportionately reinforces the Liberals position atop Canada’s political landscape.
So no, Justin Trudeau did not win these elections. He did not regain the trust of the voters, nor did he shed the baggage he has accumulated over the last few years.
He lost just enough to keep his job by playing the system and his opponents in spite of the obvious dissatisfaction of the populace, many of whom held their nose while they cast a ballot for him.
RT. com / ABC Flash Point News 2019.
