The world share your joy , your hope ,your tenacity and courage
Ride on , the new prime minister of the modern era
What a historic win
The young , the brave and the triumphant winner
Justin Trudeau campaigned as a candidate of change, and his party is poised to hand the incumbent Conservatives one of the worst defeats in their history.
At Liberal Party headquarters in Montreal, the mood has gone from excitement to pure jubilation, as the crowd cheers win after improbable win.
“I’m so excited,” said Karyn Decore, who flew in from Edmonton – another conservative Alberta city that could send a Liberal to parliament – for Monday night’s party.
“I could feel in my heart that change was coming. This is history in the making.”
Mr Trudeau, 43, started the race in third place but the Liberals took the lead in opinion polls in a late surge.
He campaigned on a promise of change, urging voters ahead of the polling day to “come together as a country”.
Mr Trudeau’s father, Pierre, is considered the father of modern Canada.
The new PM has committed to restoring environmental laws and budgets dismantled by Harper, but on the two biggest issues – Keystone XL pipeline and emissions reductions target – Trudeau is bound to disappoint.
Trudeau, despite attacking Harper for his pro-oil, anti-climate positions, is for the Keystone XL pipeline, the project that more than any other has symbolised the deep divisions over the future of the vast carbon reserves known as the Alberta tar sands.
And he has resisted setting a target for cutting carbon pollution. Instead, Trudeau has offered only to meet with provincial leaders and come up with a plan to put a price on carbon and fight climate change within 90 days of the election.
On the plus side, Trudeau is prepared to talk about climate change – unlike Harper who gave the issue short shrift. Trudeau has also committed to setting up a $2bn fund to help the country move to a low carbon economy.
Expect some interesting phone conversations with Barack Obama when the US president calls to offer his congratulations. The relationship between Obama and Harper was notably frosty, in large part because of Harper’s persistent lobbying for the Keystone XL, and his determination to expand the tar sands and turn Canada into an energy superpower
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Trudeau: ‘we beat fear with hope’
“We beat fear with hope, we beat cynicism with hard work. We beat negative, divisive politics with a positive vision that brings Canadians together,” Trudeau says, heading toward the end of his speech.
“Most of all we defeated the idea that Canadians should be satisfied with less, that good enough is good enough, and that better just isn’t possible. Well, my friends, this is Canada, and in Canada better is always possible.”
And with that Trudeau gives his parting waves to the crowd, wife at his side, and slowly works his way off stage
Trudeau wraps up his victory speech by promising to “make that vision a reality” that Canadians have asked for, and that he pledges to listen to all the voters who came out to the polls.
He concludes with a story about meeting a Muslim mother who told him she was voting Liberal because “she wants to make sure that her little girl has the right to make her own choices in life, and that the government will protect those rights.”
“Canada was built by people from all corners of the world,” he says, an implicit repudiation of some of the Harper administration’s policies. “We believe in our hearts that this country’s unique diversity is a blessing bestowed upon us by previous generations of Canadians. Canadians who stared down prejudice and discrimination in all its forms.”
He says that Canadians “know in their heart of hearts that a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian”.
The prime minister elect then takes a few shots at his predecessor and the Conservative government, saying that Canadians want a country that is stronger not “in spite of its differences, but because of them”.
He adds government transparency, trust in its citizens, the rights of indigenous people and a few other items on the laundry list of progressive complaints with the Harper administration.
It was one of the longest and possibly closest election campaigns in Canada’s history, with leaders criss-crossing the country to try to sway undecided voters.
Early counts in the eastern provinces gave the Liberals their first taste of victory, as they led in all 32 races there.
As the results began pouring in, former Conservative Justice Minister Peter MacKay said: “A sea of change here. We are used to high tides in Atlantic Canada. This is not what we hoped for.”
The Conservatives are now in danger of losing all 13 seats they held in Atlantic Canada in 2011.
In a remarkable turnaround, the Liberals – who held only 36 seats before the election – are now expected to form a majority cabinet.
By ‘JIDE ADESINA
