Well, it’s all over but the crying, as they say in sports.
The whirlwind federal election has come and gone leaving more questions than answers. Sure, the Liberals pulled off a miracle in retaking government, but the party was held to a minority. Without a strong majority mandate, it is going to be difficult for Prime Minister elect Mark Carney to come up with a new deal for Canadians that all regions can accept. It also leaves him in a weaker position when it comes to Donald Trump and the impending renegotiation of the USMCA free trade agreement.
The NDP were essentially gutted in this election with their seat total being reduced to single digits in Parliament as well as now being leaderless after the resignation of Jagmeet Singh, but by a strange quirk of fate the party might still be in a position to offer the Liberals a deal to hold onto the balance of power– likely with some sort of affordable housing agreement.
However, the party with probably the most regrets in this election is the Conservative Party. On the one hand, the party picked up more seats and expanded its popular support across the country when compared to last election; however, it still has to taste the ashes of defeat after poll numbers once seemed so promising. And to add insult to injury, the party’s leader Pierre Poilievre failed to hold on to his own seat in Carleton.
As Poilievre searches for potentially a new seat to run in, perhaps in Alberta or rural Ontario, the new Carney Liberal government will likely have some breathing room for the next few months. Similarly, the NDP will be in no hurry to see the Liberals fail for the next year or so while they search for a new party leader.
For all three major parties, and even the lesser ones like the Greens and People’s Party, this election can probably be viewed as the “no winners election,” reflecting the polarizing times and, perhaps, Canadians’ frustration with the national political process as a whole.
