Canada Elections 2021 Results: Justin Trudeau wins 3rd term, fails to gain absolute majority

Canada Elections Results 2021: Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has made a comeback by winning the hotly contested elections against the Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole. However, Trudeau has failed to gain an absolute majority. 

The snap elections in Canada were called in August 2021 by Trudeau, hoping to draw out a smooth COVID-19 vaccination drive into a new mandate to steer the nation's pandemic exit and pass his agenda without any opposition support. 

In a tweet, Trudeau wrote, "Thank you, Canada- for casting your vote, for putting your trust in the Liberal Team, for choosing a brighter future. We are going to finish the fight against COVID. And we're going to move Canada forward. For everyone. 

Thank you, Canada — for casting your vote, for putting your trust in the Liberal team, for choosing a brighter future. We're going to finish the fight against COVID. And we're going to move Canada forward. For everyone.

— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) September 21, 2021

After a tight race between Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party and the Conservative Party in opposition led by Erin O’Toole during 5 weeks of campaigning, Canada casted its vote on September 20, 2021, to elect its 44th Parliament.

As per Elections Canada’s data, in this election, more than 27 million people were eligible to cast their votes and approximately 5.78 million ballots have already been cast in the advance votes.

As the country stretches across the different zones, the opening and closing times of the voting were different across the country. The West Coast of Canada witnessed the country’s last polls closing at 7.00 PM local time (2.00 GMT).

Trudeau, O'Toole make their final pitches to voters in key battlegrounds on the eve of Canada's snap elections https://t.co/T33gTGka5O#Elexn44 pic.twitter.com/GGV4rEptpE

— AFP News Agency (@AFP) September 19, 2021

Canada Elections 2021: 5 Things You Must Know

1. Why Canada is holding elections now?

Incumbent Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau, since 2019, has only commanded a minority in the Parliament which left him dependent on other parties to govern.

He had argued that the COVID-19 pandemic has changed Canada as World War II did and the Canadians must choose who they want to make significant decisions for decades to come. Canada had held its last federal elections in 2019 which was won by Trudeau.

2. What led to the snap elections by Trudeau in Canada?

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has struggled to explain why an early election in the country during the worsening COVID-19 situation was a good idea.

Conservative leader in opposition Erin O’Toole has accused the liberal leader of putting Canadians in harm’s way for his personal ambition. The citizens in the country also seem tired of Trudeau who has been in the position for the past 6 years.

3. When will be the Canada elections 2021 result declared?

The result of the Canadian elections may not be determined on the election night, i.e. September 20, 2021. In the last elections in 2019, only about 50,000 people had chosen postal voting. More than 1 Million Mail-in ballots have been issued in the 2021 elections.

4. Canada Elections 2021: Justin Trudeau vs Erin O’Toole

The snap elections in Canada are seeing two main candidates running to gain a majority in the Parliament. The incumbent Prime Minister Justin Trudeau from the Liberal Party and in his opposition is Erin O’Toole from the Conservative Party.

Erin O’Toole-

Erin O’Toole is a politician who has been serving as the Leader of the Official Opposition of Canada and the leader of the Conservative party of Canada since 2020.

Since he assumed the leadership of the Conservative Party, he has marketed his party to the working-class Canadians and he has been described as the moderate member of his party. O’Toole’s voting records on social issues have been characterized as socially progressive, even though he voted against euthanasia legislation.

Justin Trudeau-

Justin Trudeau is the 23rd and current Prime Minister of Canada since November 2015 and has been the leader of the Liberal Party since 2013. He is also the second youngest Prime Minister in Canadian History.

In the 2015 Federal elections, Trudeau led his party to victory. The major initiatives that he undertook in his first term include the legalization of recreational marijuana through Cannabis Act, establishing the federal carbon tax, among others.

In the 2019 federal elections by winning the most seats, Justin Trudeau secured a second term as the Prime Minister of Canada for forming a minority government, despite the Liberal Party losing the Popular Vote.

5. Canada Elections 2021: What are the main issues?

In order to tackle the pandemic, the liberal party in Canada recorded a national debt of $1 trillion and pushed the budget deficits to a new high.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a key issue of this election as the country reported more than 1.56 million cases of Coronavirus and recorded more than 27,300 deaths because of the virus. Other key issues in Canada 2021 elections are the Housing, Economy, health care, and climate crisis.

The vaccine mandates by Trudeau’s Liberal Government are also on the top issue. Opposition leader Erin O’Toole had opposed the vaccine mandates, including for his own candidates, and stated that he prefer frequent testing.

Elections in Canada

Canada runs on a Parliamentary democracy system. The House of Commons, the Lower House of the Canadian Parliament has 338 seats. In order to form a government in Canada, the party needs to secure at least 170 seats.