• Canadian Elections Justin Trudeau's Litmus Test

  • Elections The pandemic in Canada: a boomerang for Justin Trudeau

Canada's next government will be made up of Justin Trudeau's Liberal Party, who won a

third term as prime minister

after a very difficult campaign, Canadian media announced on Monday.

The results of the vote, which are still

preliminary

, do not allow determining whether the prime minister will head a majority or minority government.

In this country that has six time zones, the last voting centers closed in British Columbia, on the Pacific coast, at 7:00 p.m. local time (4 a.m. in Spain).

The 49-year-old president had called early elections in mid-August to try to

regain the majority he had lost two years ago.

But the contest, after a checkered five-week campaign, seemed set to repeat the tight 2019 general election, in which the once darling of Canadian politics held power but lost a majority in Parliament.

The top two candidates voted late in the morning in front of the cameras after a difficult 36-day campaign.

After casting his vote, Trudeau said he was "serene."

"We worked very hard during this campaign and Canadians are making an important decision," he said surrounded by his children and his wife,

Sophie Grégoire.

During the campaign, he affirmed that the return of the conservatives would be synonymous with a step backward, especially on the climate issue.

"Proud to vote today, make sure you do the same," Trudeau's top contender, the moderate conservative

Erin O'Toole

, had said on Twitter, posting a photo in front of the ballot box with his wife.

O'Toole had promised Canadians that he would be the embodiment of renewal and campaigned firmly for the center.

Managing the pandemic

"I am not happy with this vote, Justin had said that he would not call elections during the covid and finally, as soon as he believed that it was the right time to have the majority, he called them. So I

really believe that he lied to us," he

had said angrily a voter, Douglas O'Hara, at the entrance of his polling station in Montreal.

But other voters highlighted how Trudeau handled the health crisis and congratulated themselves that the country has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world.

"For me, handling the pandemic is the most important issue in this election. And

I think the prime minister handled it well,"

said Kai Anderson, a 25-year-old voter from Ottawa.

During the campaign, the contenders clashed on issues such as climate change, indigenous reconciliation, affordable housing, mandatory covid-19 vaccine inoculations and vaccine passports.

At rallies, Trudeau was harassed by what he described as "anti-vaccine mobs," including one that even threw stones at him.

For his part, O'Toole, 48, was criticized for having

supported the very early relaxation

of public health

restrictions

in Alberta and two other conservative-led provinces, in which there are now covid outbreaks forcing hospitals overwhelmed to transport patients to other healthcare facilities in Canada.

The nearly 27 million Canadians over the age of 18 who were called to vote on Monday had to elect the 338 members of the House of Commons.

If neither of the two great parties that have alternated in power since 1867 is able to obtain a majority in Parliament, the winner will have to form a minority government.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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CanadaThe pandemic in Canada: a boomerang for Justin Trudeau

CanadaJustin Trudeau, attacked with stones during a campaign event in Ontario

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