Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suffered a major blow on Tuesday when his Liberal Party lost a by-election in the longtime stronghold of Toronto-St. Paul. Conservative candidate Don Stewart won the seat with about 42% of the vote, while former Parliament House staffer and lawyer Leslie Church won about 40%.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (AFP) {{^userSubscribed}} {{/userSubscribed}} {{^userSubscribed}} {{/userSubscribed}}
The constituency of Toronto-St. Paul has been held by the Liberals for more than 30 years, despite periods of Liberal decline in the past, including only 34 Liberal MPs being elected to Parliament in the 2011 federal election. In the 2021 election, the Liberals won Toronto-St. Paul 49 per cent to 22 per cent.
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Notably, the Liberal Party currently holds 155 of the 338 seats in the House of Representatives.
The major blow to Trudeau and his government comes ahead of a federal election scheduled for next year.
Despite the Liberal loss, Trudeau vowed to lead the Liberal party in next year's election and “work hard” to address voters' issues.
“While this is clearly not the outcome we had hoped for, I want to be clear that I understand your concerns and frustrations. These are not easy times, and it is clear that I and my entire team must work even harder to deliver tangible, real progress that Canadians can see and feel,” he said in a statement quoted by Bloomberg.
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Meanwhile, Trudeau's approval rating has fallen to an all-time low of 30%, ANI reported.
Meanwhile, Trudeau's main rival, Conservative Leader Pierre Poirievre, responded to the results by calling on Trudeau to call an early election: “The verdict is in: Prime Minister Trudeau cannot continue like this. He must call a carbon tax election now,” he wrote on Twitter, formerly known as X.
Notably, the Conservatives focused their campaign primarily on the Liberals' economic record. They also focused on the war between Israel and Hamas, repeatedly accusing Trudeau of being “too soft” on Israel, and trying to win over Jewish voters, who make up about 11% of the electorate.
(With inputs from Bloomberg, Reuters and ANI)
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