The Canadian Election

Emma Dietz (G8)

Published Issue 1 2021-2022

National

The 2021 Canadian federal election took place September 20th and to some people's surprise, Justin Trudeau’s liberal party officially won the election for the 3rd time initiating a minority government until the next election.

Platform Campaigns

The Liberal Party (155 seats) made many statements and promises about the way they would lead the country if given the chance once again. The promises the party made include:

1. Finishing the Fight against COVID-19

2. A home for everyone

3. Better healthcare for everyone

4. A more resilient economy

5. A Cleaner Greener future

6. Reconciliation

The Conservative Party (117 seats) decided to make only a few promises to be able to focus more specifically on one or the other here are their goals:

1. Billions of dollars in new pandemic aid

2. GST rule (month without taxes)

3. 'Investment accelerator' and a hiring subsidy

The New Democratic Party (24 seats) similar to the Conservative party focused on one of their goals despite having multiple it was strategic and resulted in the party gaining seats rather than losing them as the Liberal and Conservative parties did. Although the party focused on taxing the rich, here are all of their goals:

1. Making life more affordable for people

2. Building an economy that works better for people

3. Protecting our air land water and our future

4. Taking better care of each other Indigenous

5. Reconciliation in action

6. A new deal to stronger, more vibrant communities

7. The courage to do what's right

Bloc Quebecois (33 seats) focuses on representing Quebec and Quebec's sovereignty within Canada and, accordingly, the party primarily focuses on prosperity for Quebec as a goal. Their platform consists of multiple promises such as:

1. Mental health and healthcare in Quebec

2. Addressing the climate crisis

3. Improvement of labour laws

4. Indigenous seats and other rights

Green Party (2 seats) tends to focuses primarily on the environment and therefore made promises that are very hard to keep with only 2 seats in parliament, those promises include the following:

1. A green future

2. Life with dignity

3. A just society

People’s Party of Canada (0 seats) has gotten very little publicity even after promising a “purple wave” because many news outlets don’t want to support them and the parties ideas that involve:

1. Pipelines

2. Indigenous Issues

3. Internal Trade

4. Housing

5. Firearms

6. Equalization

7. COVID Policy

8. Health Care

9. Public Finance

10. Freedom of Expression

11. Economy

12. Veterans

13. Canadian Identity

14. Refugees

15. Immigration

16. Foreign Policy

17. Global Warming & Environment

18. Supply Management

Candidates Throughout The Election

Justin Trudeau called the snap election and had overestimated his popularity among the people as an earlier survey stated that only 14% of Canadian voters intended on voting for Trudeau due to the way he handled the pandemic in the previous few years as Prime Minister.

Erin O’Toole took a risky move stating that “he wouldn't have passed the law to make speaking French mandatory throughout Quebec” all the other politicians stayed completely on Quebec’s side to secure French-speaking voters.

Jagmeet Singh came into this election as the dark horse gaining surprising popularity with young voters, however not enough to gain significant sway in the government. Jagmeet campaigned on social media platforms such as tiktok, instagram and twitter.

Yves-François Blanchet had already secured Quebec’s votes even before the election had begun as his campaign was based entirely on Quebec and its laws, thinking more provincially rather than nationally.

Annamie Paul stayed calm and collected throughout the entire campaign even though her chances of gaining seats remained small primarily due to infighting in the party.

Maxime Bernier led the People's Party of Canada (PPC) staying under the radar. He spoke of the purple wave that would shock the nation. Yet the wave never came and the leader ended this election with 0 seats other indigenous in the House of Commons.

Mulgrave student vote

The Upper School students of Mulgrave took part in a Student Vote that had a voter turnout of 46% with 263/578 students. Mulgrave students elected the Liberal candidate Patrick Weiler who was also elected for the West Vancouver district. Weiler got 25.1% of the votes by the students having 66 students vote for him. The second place at the school went to John Weston getting 24% of the votes also known as 63 votes overall. Surprisingly the Rhino Party candidate came 3rd with 20.5% of the votes or 54 students. The NDP candidate got 20.2% of the student votes with 53 students having voted for Avi Lewis. 12 students voted for Green Party’s candidate Mike Simpson which adds up to 4.6% of the votes. The PPC candidate, Doug Bebb, got 8 votes at the school or 3% of the votes. 3 students voted for independent candidates and the remaining 4 ballots were spoiled.

2019 compared with 2021

The Liberal Party gained 2 seats which was a disappointment to the party as they planned on winning a full-on majority government.

The Conservative Party lost 2 seats even though, going from 121 seats to a mere 119, which was upsetting because they believed that Trudeau’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic would allow them to gain seats.

The NDP gained 1 seat even though many people assumed they would gain an incredible amount due to their popularity with younger generations. They currently hold 25 seats.

Bloc Quebecois gained 1 seat because their entire campaign was based in Quebec and so was their platform. They went from 32 seats to 33.

The Green Party lost one seat going from 3 seats to 2, partially because the party took the risk of having their leader Annamie Paul run in Toronto center- a Liberal stronghold that almost guaranteed a loss for the party.

The PPC lost their singular seat in the House of Commons even after overestimating its popularity with the people and making over 18 promises.

Mulgrave 2019 compared with 2021

In 2019 voting was made mandatory in the school and therefore a lot of people were influenced by not knowing who to vote for. 35% of the 2019 vote went to the Conservative party with 134 votes. 18.5% (71 votes) went to the NDP, perhaps because the party began campaigning on social media to appeal to younger audiences. 17.2% of the vote, or 66 votes, went to the Liberal candidate even though they won the election that year as well. In 2019 Greta Thunberg was at peak influence and so was the climate movement which resulted in the Green Party winning 58 votes or 15.1% which is shocking compared to the 4.6% this year. The Rhino party got 37 votes adding up to 9.7% of the vote. The PPC got 5 votes or 1.3%.

Conclusion

This year Justin Trudeau called a snap election after overestimating the popularity gained from handling Covid-19. The Liberals will continue to lead as a minority government with very similar seats all over the country. There were no major shifts that came from the election to many people's disappointment. The entire school voted similarly to the actual election and nothing extremely shocking occurred this year other than securing a liberal government for the next 4 years to come.