Paint It Red
SAINT JOHN–So that just happened.
It was supposed to be close, a three-way battle, but in the end the Liberals, once known as Canada’s “natural governing party” but relegated to third-party status, surged to victory.
Justin Trudeau, son of the prime minister that “haunts us still” will return to his boyhood home at 24 Sussex Drive. This time, he’s the prime minister.
It wasn’t supposed to be this way.
The Tories maintained a withering attack on Trudeau’s ability to lead, with attack ads telling Canadians over and over that “Justin” was “just not ready.” It was a strategy that worked brilliantly for the Tories before in destroying public perceptions of Liberal leaders Stéphane Dion and Michael Ignatieff.
But not this time. Over the course of a long campaign, Trudeau benefited from the low expectations that Conservatives created for him. He surprised some by holding his own with Prime Minister Harper and NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair during the debates.
Trudeau captured the desire for change felt by many Canadians after a decade of Stephen Harper’s rule. He campaigned relentlessly and smartly outflanked the NDP on the left as Mulcair moved his party uncomfortably to the centre. In the campaign’s last weeks, votes began to move. Yesterday, they lurched firmly into the Liberal camp.
Under Trudeau, so different from his aloof, intellectual and mercurial father, the Liberals moved from only 34 seats to a majority of 184 seats the House of Commons.
In New Brunswick, Liberals dominated, picking up all 10 of the province’s ridings and scoring upsets in traditionally Conservative ridings like Fundy Royal and New Brunswick Southwest.
The New Brunswick MPs are:
- René Arseneault – Madawaska-Restigouche
- Serge Cormier – Acadie-Bathurst
- Pat Finnigan – Miramichi-Grand Lake
- TJ Harvey – Tobique-Mactaquac
- Matt DeCourcey –Fredericton
- Karen Ludwig – New Brunswick Southwest
- Wayne Long – Saint John-Rothesay
- Alaina Lockhart – Fundy Royal
- Ginette Petitpas Taylor – Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe
- Dominic LeBlanc – Beauséjour
Dominic Leblanc, a veteran MP and close confidant of Prime Minister-elect Trudeau, will likely be New Brunswick’s political minister.