The General Election of 2019 in Canada: Results and Conclusions

Abstract

Paradoxically both leading parties of Canada — Liberal and Conservative — can consider themselves “winners” in the 43rd Canadian general election: the Liberals remained the ruling party, while the Conservatives signifi cantly increased their representation in the House of Commons. At the same time, almost all parties in Canada feel like losers, as no one has fully achieved their goals. The 2019 election showed a continuing (if not intensifying) rift and confrontation between the eastern provinces that vote mostly for Liberals (along with British Columbia), and predominantly Conservative-supporting western Canada. The 2019 election again brought to the forefront of public debate the question of the principles of Canada’s electoral system — single-member plurality voting (“first-past-the-post”), now almost 150 years in use — and the prospects for reforming it to refl ect greater proportionality. It can be assumed that the elections of 2019 in Canada will be followed by a rather long “respite,” during which the Liberal minority government will be forced to cooperate with the offi cial opposition and with other political parties to pass the necessary bills. It will take a long time for the Сonservative Party to mobilize its forces in order to more successfully challenge the ruling Liberals in the next election.

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