Historic federal election
Canada will have a new prime minister and the Vaudreuil-Soulanges riding a new member of parliament after voters across the country resoundingly gave the Liberal Party of Canada a stunning and decisive win in the Oct. 19 federal election.
History was made when the Liberals closed a third place gap during the course of the 11-week election to win 184 seats in the House of Commons. The Liberals had been reduced to just 36 seats following the 2011 election.
And history was also made when Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau followed in his fathers footsteps to ascend to the prime minister’s office.
Pierre Elliott Trudeau served as Canada’s prime minister for close to 16 years. He retired from politics in 1984.
Monday’s election also saw a significant shift in Canada’s political landscape, with the once dominant Conservative Party forming the Official Opposition with 99 seats, and the New Democratic Party falling to just 44 seats. The Bloc Québécois won 10 seats in Quebec, while Green Party Leader Elizabeth May was re-elected in her B.C. riding.
Election results began rolling in early Monday evening when Atlantic Canada showed a red wave of support for the Liberals, who swept the entire region.
According to Elections Canada, 68.4 percent of registered voters cast ballots on Monday.
When he made a speech from his campaign headquarters early Tuesday morning, Justin Trudeau said his party ran a clean, positive, hope filled campaign.
“Sunny ways my friends. Sunny ways,” he said in his opening remarks.
For his part, Stephen Harper, who is reportedly stepping down according to a statement released by the head of the Conservative Party, said he accepts the election results without question.
Vaudreuil-Soulanges
Vaudreuil-Soulanges voters spoke clearly by giving first time Liberal candidate Peter Schiefke a solid win with 46.5 percent of the vote, or 30,543 votes. His closest rival, incumbent NDP candidate Jamie Nicholls, garnered 22.4 percent of the vote with 14,727 votes. Bloc Québécois candidate Vincent François placed third in the region with 9,920 votes (15.1 percent,) while Conservative candidate Marc Boudreau received 9,048 votes (13.8 percent,) and Green Party candidate Jennifer Kaszel took 2.2 percent of votes when 1,445 cast ballots for her.
Elections Canada results show that 65,683 of 90,607 registered electors (72.49 percent) voted at one of 253 Vaudreuil-Soulanges polls.
Lac St. Louis
In the Lac St. Louis riding, Liberal Party incumbent Francis Scarpaleggia won a decisive victory in Monday’s election with 39,527 votes (63.6 percent.)
Voters gave the seasoned politician his fifth straight term in Ottawa.
Conservative candidate Éric Girard, a Senior Vice-President at National Bank who was new to politics, placed second with 10,730 votes (17.3 percent,) while NDP candidate Ryan Young, a John Abbott College teacher and Ste. Anne-de-Bellevue town councillor, garnered 8,384 votes to receive 13.5 percent of the vote.
Green Party candidate Bradford Dean received 1,860 votes (3.0 percent) while Bloc Québécois’ Gabriel Bernier took 1,681 votes to receive 2.7 percent of votes in Lac St. Louis.
The riding posted a slightly higher voter turnout, with 62,182 of 85,727 registered electors, 72.53 percent, turing out at one of 234 polling stations.
And though Quebec voters sent 10 Bloc Québécois MPs to Ottawa on Monday, Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe was not one of them. The seasoned politician and party leader lost his seat in the Laurier-Saint-Marie riding to NDP candidate Hélène Laverdière, who garnered 18,129 votes to Duceppe’s 13,565.
The riding was strongly represented by major and lesser known political parties including the Liberals (24.4 percent,) Conservatives (4.3 percent,) and Green Party (3.5 percent,) but also the Libertarian Party (1.1 percent), Independent (0.3 percent), Communist (0.2-percent) and Marxist-Leninist Party (0.2 percent).
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