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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suffered another setback.
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His Liberal Party lost a seat in parliament, which it had held for most of the previous century.
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It is Trudeau’s second straight defeat in less than three months.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suffered a new setback this week after his party lost a seat in parliament it had held for most of the last century.
Trudeau’s Liberal Party lost to the Bloc Québécois in the Montreal constituency of La Salle-Émard-Verdun, according to final results announced Tuesday morning.
Liberal candidate Laura Palestini lost by 0.8% to Bloc Québécois’ Louis-Philippe Sauvé, with 27.2% of the vote to her opponent’s 28%. NDP candidate Craig Sauvé came in third.
According to CBC, it was one of the most exciting three-way matches in recent history, with the leaders changing positions throughout the count.
It is also the second consecutive defeat for Trudeau’s party in a by-election in less than three months, a result that is likely to increase pressure on the prime minister to resign.
Trudeau already faced calls from within his party to resign after losing Toronto-St. Paul — a safe seat in downtown Toronto that the Liberals had held since 1993 — to the Conservatives in a June by-election, CTV News reported.
Over the past year, the Liberal Party has been well behind the Conservative Party in the polls at the federal level, now at 25%, compared to 43% for the Conservative Party.
An Ipsos poll conducted between September 5 and 9, 2024, put his approval rating at 33%. Two-thirds of Canadians disapproved of his leadership, citing disappointment with the cost of living and the housing crisis.
Meanwhile, his Conservative rival, Pierre Poilievre, was the favourite for prime minister with 45%, compared to Trudeau’s 26%.
On Friday, Trudeau told Montreal radio station CJAD 800 that he would not resign if his party lost the election in LaSalle-Émard-Verdun. He promised to remain as party leader until the next election in October 2025.
Before the election results were known, Andrew Perez, a longtime Liberal Party supporter and strategist, said another defeat would be “another nail in Justin Trudeau’s coffin.”
“If Trudeau’s Liberals cannot hold on to this safe seat, it will mean even greater problems for the party’s prospects in Quebec and across Canada in a crucial election year,” he said in an X message Tuesday.
“It’s going to be very difficult for them to avoid the narrative that the government is essentially done with it,” Lori Turnbull, a Canadian political analyst and professor at Dalhousie University, told Politico.
It remains unclear whether Trudeau’s government will remain in power until the next federal election.
Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre has vowed to table a motion of no confidence in Trudeau’s government “as soon as possible” once Parliament reconvenes, in a bid to trigger a federal election, CBC reports.
However, Poilievre would need the support of the New Democratic Party (NDP) and the Bloc Québécois to call an election. According to the CBC, it is unclear whether either party will sign on to the motion.
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