Bruce Anderson, one of CBC’s At Issue panelists, called Justin Trudeau’s ascent to prime minister as a “campaign for the ages.” Sure, Trudeau is the scion of a former PM. But he defied great odds to win.
The Liberals started the campaign with a mere 37 seats in the House of Commons and were polling in third place. But once the ballots were all counted, the Liberals had taken 184 seats.
Trudeau’s astounding success also highlights the reversals of fortune for both the Conservatives, who have governed since 2006, and the NDP, who were first in the polls going into this 11-week campaign.
Stephen Harper and the Conservatives won the 2011 election with 166 seats, while the NDP finished with 103 — and, for the first time, status as the Official Opposition. Four years later, the Conservatives have 67 fewer seats while the NDP have dropped 59.
One of the quirks of Canada’s first-past-the-post electoral system is that a party can take the majority of seats without winning a majority of votes. That was certainly the case in 2011, when the Conservatives won 166 of 308 seats — or 53.9 per cent — but only 39.6 per cent of the popular vote.
In terms of the ratios, the 2015 story is almost identical. Justin Trudeau and the Liberals took 184 seats — 54.4 per cent of the new total of 338 seats — with 39.5 per cent of the popular vote.
Source: www.cbc.ca