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‘The Liberals are done’: What will the Montreal byelection loss mean for Trudeau?

Click to play video: 'Bloc Québécois byelection win in Montreal prompts mixed reactions'
Bloc Québécois byelection win in Montreal prompts mixed reactions
WATCH: There are mixed emotions in southwestern Montreal after the Bloc Québécois won the federal byelection in LaSalle—Émard—Verdun. The Liberal stronghold fell to the separatist party in a crushing defeat for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. As Global’s Dan Spector reports, while some residents are declaring victory, others say they fear for the future – Sep 17, 2024

The Liberals have “a lot of work to do” after the party suffered a major byelection defeat in what has historically been a Montreal stronghold Monday night, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.

“It would’ve been nicer to win and hold Verdun but there’s more work to do but we’re going to stay focused on doing it,” Trudeau told reporters outside a cabinet meeting on Tuesday morning.

Addressing questions over his leadership of the party, he said in French, “We have a lot of work to do and we’re going to continue to do it.”

Trudeau suffered a devastating electoral blow after the Liberals lost their stronghold of  LaSalle—Émard—Verdun to the Bloc Québécois — the second loss of a stronghold this summer, after they suffered defeat in Toronto-St Paul’s in June.

When asked what went wrong for the Liberals, Trudeau said, “There’s all sorts of reflections to take on that but the big thing is to make sure Canadians understand the choice they get to make in the next election about the kind of country we are really matters and that’s the work we’re going to continue to do.”

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Click to play video: 'Trudeau’s Liberals suffer another blow as Bloc wins Montreal byelection'
Trudeau’s Liberals suffer another blow as Bloc wins Montreal byelection

Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly said the party “heard loud and clear” what the message from the electorate was.

“We heard loud and clear what the results last night (were). These are not the results that we were looking for,” she said.

Immigration Minister Marc Miller said, “The sun’s going to rise tomorrow. It’s going to set tonight, and we intend to win it the next night.”

François-Philippe Champagne, the innovation minister, said, “We need to be humble. You know, every time Canadians express themselves, we have to listen and be humble. I would say we need to redouble efforts as well to show that the Liberal team is the best thing to deliver for Quebeckers and making sure that their interests are well represented in Ottawa.”

Champagne also said that Trudeau will continue as Liberal Leader.

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“He’s been clear that he’s going to be our leader to the next election and we’re going to be working with him. We’re going to be putting the team and we look at the candidate we have been able to attract.”

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Joly, Miller and Champagne all represent Quebec ridings, with Joly and Miller representing Montreal-area ones and Champagne representing a Shawinigan-area riding about two hours east down the St. Lawrence River from Montreal.

Anita Anand, President of the Treasury Board and a Greater Toronto Area MP, when asked if the Liberals could still win an election under Trudeau, said, “Yes, we can.”

‘Liberals are done,’ NDP says

Leaders of the Conservative Party and the NDP sparred with Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland during question period in the House of Commons on Tuesday, with NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh saying the Liberals were “done” after their loss in Monday’s byelections.

Click to play video: '‘Liberals are done’: Poilievre, Singh blast Trudeau party after byelection loss'
‘Liberals are done’: Poilievre, Singh blast Trudeau party after byelection loss

“The Liberals have let people down again and again and they are done. It’s clear from the results of the election last night the Liberals are done,” Singh said.

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He added, “Maybe it’s because they keep on teaming up with the Conservatives to let greedy CEOs continue to rip off Canadians.”

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said, “Canadians in the former Liberal strongholds of Toronto and Montreal have now given their verdict.”

Poilievre repeated his calls for a snap election.

“Isn’t it time for Canadians to have a chance to render their verdict right across the country, electing a common sense conservative government? “

Freeland said Canada’s rate of inflation coming down to two per cent was making Conservatives “panicked”.

“They can see that the economic news is good. They can see that we are now back to exactly where we were before COVID hit. They can see the Bank of Canada has lowered interest rates three times in a row and wages have been ahead of inflation for 19 months. That’s good news for Canadians. It’s bad news for Conservatives,” Freeland said.

Elections Canada reported all 187 polls early Tuesday, showing the Bloc won the seat just 248 votes ahead of the Liberals.

The Montreal seat opened up when former justice minister David Lametti left politics.

Click to play video: 'Over half of Canadians don’t want an early election: Ipsos poll'
Over half of Canadians don’t want an early election: Ipsos poll
Support for Trudeau and his Liberal government has hit a “new low,” new polling showed earlier this week.

Just over one-third of Canadians (33 per cent) approve of the Trudeau government, according to an Ipsos poll conducted exclusively for Global News and released on Monday. That approval rating is down by four points since the last time Ipsos did a similar poll in June.

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Darrell Bricker, global CEO of Ipsos public affairs, said it’s not just the government message that’s unappealing to voters but the messenger — Trudeau.

“What we’ve heard from the government is that they were going to try and improve their popularity and their level of approval over the course of the summer, and that clearly hasn’t happened,” Bricker said in an interview with Global News.

At the same time, polling by Ipsos for Global News earlier this month also showed that a small majority of Canadians say they do not want an early election.

A federal election must take place under fixed election date laws no later than October 2025.

Click to play video: 'Trudeau’s Liberals suffer another blow as Bloc wins Montreal byelection'
Trudeau’s Liberals suffer another blow as Bloc wins Montreal byelection

In another major byelection, the NDP held onto the Elmwood-Transcona riding in Winnipeg. The NDP’s Leila Dance won a close battle over Conservative candidate Colin Reynolds and says the community has spoken in favour of priorities such as health care and the cost of living.

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Elmwood-Transcona has elected a New Democrat in every election except one since the riding was formed in 1988.

The seat became open after three-term member of Parliament Daniel Blaikie resigned in March to take a job with the Manitoba government.

The NDP won the night with 48.1 per cent of the vote. But Reynolds managed to grow the Tories’ share of the vote from 28 per cent in the 2021 general election to 44 per cent in Monday’s byelection.

— with files from The Canadian Press

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