Trudeau Wins, Canadians Lose
The Canadian Federal Elections saw party leaders bid against each other to take the Prime Ministerial seat in the Canadian Government. Justin Trudeau emerged victorious in the elections held on 21st October 2019, but without the majority. With voter turnout only at 66% and a myriad of promises and controversies, Canada has had a rough democratic vote. Here we look at what transpired and what might come ahead of this election up North.
Climate change has been a topic of much interest amongst the spearheads in the Canadian elections. Trudeau’s Liberals have promised 0 carbon emissions by 2050 and have promised to create legally binding 5-year contracts with blue-chip companies to curb greenhouse gas emissions in their term. The Liberal Party has made claims to further cut taxes on corporations that adopt green energy use practices. They have also promised to give 0 interest loans to households that retrofit their homes and to promote greener households. Such huge claims come after their competition, barring the climatically dormant Conservative Party, has been actively making climate change prevention a center point of their campaigns. Smaller parties like the National Democratic Party (Candidate: Jagmeet Singh, National vote: 16%) and the Green Party (Candidate- Elizabeth May, National vote: 6.5%) put forward strong climate-change promises during campaigning. However, the Liberals’ grand claims came under fire when, then still serving his first term, Justin Trudeau announced the expansion of the Trans Mountain Pipeline which transports crude and refined oil from Alberta to the coast of British Columbia.
Similarly, healthcare has been an issue stressed by many candidates in their campaigns. Trudeau has boasted about the Liberals’ history of spending billions on healthcare for Canadians and vowed to continually do that. The NDP’s leader Jagmeet Singh took up Universal Healthcare as an apex commitment in his agenda. The Liberal Party followed suit by making a similar claim but gave no timeline to the project.
The Liberal’s inflated claims have indeterminate consequences for their party. On one hand, Trudeau’s government desperately mongered the majority middle-class vote by offering policy decisions to favor them. On the other hand, with high spending on renewable energy and increased healthcare funding, it is inevitable that the Canadian’s will see an increase in taxation. Trudeau has dropped in approval ratings from a high 76% during the 2015 elections to a meager 37 % in the most recent election. The leader’s image is damaged by his controversial ‘blackface’ outfit and his unreasonably ostentatious claims about what his party will do in power. The Canadian population is at crossroads as Trudeau seems to be acting as a ‘jack of all traits’. A muddled population does not know if the party leader wants a capitalist stonehand to weaken the majority opposition of the conservatives, or does Trudeau want a satisfied middle class and overpower the weaker stakeholders in parliament.
Today, Canada has its leader in Trudeau only because of a weak opposition and the country’s lack of desire for change. The democratic values of the Canadians are at stake and a government on the decline is a clear reason for it. Canada needs a more powerful leader. Will Trudeau be it in this fresh, second term? Only time will tell.
Edited by Naomi Santiago
Sources:
https://globalnews.ca/news/5961823/explainer-where-the-major-federal-parties-stand-on-health-care/
https://www.climatechangenews.com/2019/10/18/canadas-climate-election-cheat-sheet
https://theconversation.com/the-economic-illusions-of-the-canadian-election-125631
