TORONTO - Canadians gave Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal Party a victory in Monday's parliamentary elections, but it was unclear whether his gamble to win a majority of seats paid off.
The Liberals were on track to win the most seats of any party. The 49-year-old Trudeau channeled the star power of his father, the Liberal icon and late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, when he first won election in 2015 and now appeared to have led his party to the top finish in two elections since.
The Liberals were leading in 148 ridings, the Conservatives in 103, the Quebec-based Bloc Québécois in 28 and the leftist New Democratic Party in 22.
Trudeau bet Canadians didn't want a Conservative government during a pandemic. Canada is now among the most fully vaccinated countries in the world and Trudeau's government spent hundreds of billions of dollars to prop up the economy amid lockdowns and he argued that the Conservatives' approach, which has been skeptical of lockdowns and vaccine mandates, would be dangerous and says Canadians need a government that follows science.
The opposition was relentless in accusing Trudeau of calling an unnecessary early vote - two years before the deadline - for his own personal ambition. Trudeau entered the election leading a stable minority government that wasn't under threat of being toppled.
Conservative leader Erin O'Toole didn't require his party's candidates to be vaccinated and would not say how many were unvaccinated.