This was published 9 years ago
Canada's Justin Trudeau sweeps to victory, toppling Stephen Harper in election
By Randall Palmer and Rod Nickel
- Canadian vote closes as Justin Trudeau looks near finish
- Canada's Liberals brace for potential transition to power
- Canada's elections could hinge on immigration and religious issues
Montreal: He is the photogenic son of a former prime minister whose abs and biceps have graced charity boxing matches - now Canada's Liberal leader Justin Trudeau has won another fight.
Mr Trudeau, 43, rode a late campaign surge to a stunning election victory on Monday, toppling Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives with a promise of change and returning a touch of glamour, youth and charisma to Ottawa.
The Liberals secured an outright majority in the 338-seat parliament, smashing the record for the number of seats gained from one election to the next.
The win ends the Conservatives' nine-year run in power and reflected a political shift away from Mr Harper's brand of fiscal and cultural conservatism.
The eldest son of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, Mr Trudeau pledged to run a C$10 billion ($10.5 billion) annual budget deficit for three years to invest in infrastructure and help stimulate Canada's anaemic economic growth. This rattled financial markets in the run-up to the vote and the Canadian dollar weakened on news of his victory.
Mr Trudeau has said he will repair Canada's cool relations with the Obama administration, withdraw Canada from the combat mission against Islamic State in favour of humanitarian aid and training, and tackle climate change.
Mr Trudeau vaulted from third place to lead the polls in the final days of the campaign, overcoming Conservative attacks that he is too inexperienced to govern and setting himself for a return to the Prime Minister's residence in Ottawa where he grew up.
"When the time for change strikes, it's lethal," former Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney said in a television interview. "I ran and was successful because I wasn't Pierre Trudeau. Justin is successful because he isn't Stephen Harper."
Liberal supporters at the party's campaign headquarters broke into cheers and whistles when television projected that Mr Trudeau would be the next prime minister.
Top Trudeau advisor Gerald Butts tweeted "Amazing work #TeamTrudeau. Breathtaking really".
At the Conservative election headquarters in Calgary, supporters sat quietly, staring at giant TV screens as the defeats poured in.
Sources close to Mr Harper said he would step down as Conservative leader, but in his address to party faithful - he told them "the people are never wrong" - there was no mention of resignation.
The left-leaning New Democratic Party was left a distant third, its fall highlighted in Quebec, where it had the majority of its seats.
The Liberals' win marks a swing toward a more multilateral approach in global politics by the Canadian government, which has distanced itself from the United Nations in recent years.
Mr Trudeau took charge of the party just two years ago and guided it out of the political wilderness with a pledge of economic stimulus and stirring appeals for a return to social liberalism.
Trudeaumania again?
Born to a sitting prime minister who came to power in 1968 on a wave of popular support dubbed "Trudeaumania", Mr Trudeau will become the second-youngest prime minister in Canadian history and brings an appeal more common in movie stars than statesmen.
Pierre once jumped from a trampoline into the crowd. With boyish good looks, Justin thrusts himself into throngs and puts his hand to his heart when listening to someone.
Selfie requests are so common he happily takes the camera and snaps the photo himself, often cheek to cheek. He is the married father of three young children.
Criticised for being more style than substance, Mr Trudeau has used attacks on his good looks and privileged upbringing to win over voters, who recalled his father's rock-star presence and an era when Canada had some sizzle on the world stage.
Pierre Trudeau, who died in 2000, was in power for 15 years - with a brief interruption - and remains one of the few Canadian leaders to be known abroad.
Single when he took power, the elder Trudeau dated movie stars and models before marrying. He had three sons while prime minister.
Financial market players had praised the Conservative government for its steady hand in economic management, which had spared Canada the worst of the global financial malaise. Mr Trudeau has also promised to raise taxes on high-income Canadians and reduce them for the middle class.
Political pundits have already began to speculate on the makeup of a Trudeau government while pondering what caused the downfall of Mr Harper, 56, who has been criticised for his aloof personality but won credit for economic management in a decade of global fiscal uncertainty.