Social media reacts to the 43rd Canadian Federal Elections

Yesterday, Canadians made their voices heard in the polls. With everything counted, the night ended with Justin Trudeau and the Liberals winning power again, but this time with a minority government. 

Meanwhile, winning the popular vote and claiming all Alberta ridings but one, Scheer and the Conservatives maintain that they will be back next election to claim power. 

See also: Liberals form minority government after 43rd Canadian federal elections

With Trudeau now heading a minority government, he will need the support of another party to pass bills. This is because 170 votes are needed to pass a bill and the Liberals only managed to secure 157 seats. 

Elizabeth May and the Green Party did not experience the voting surge they may have initially expected, but they did see some moderate gains, tripling their seat count from 2015 and doubling their vote count from last election. May also won her riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands for the third election in a row.

The NDP party, led by Jagmeet Singh, came up shorter than previously expected. In the weeks leading up to the election, Singh was polling at an increased approval rating of 18%. Despite Singh winning his riding of Burnaby South, the NDPs ended the evening with a mere 24 seats in the House. 

See also:

• City councillor Laurel Collins wins Victoria riding for NDP
• Green Party leader Elizabeth May wins seat in Saanich-Gulf Islands
• People’s Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier loses seat in Quebec

As the dust settled on the 43rd Canadian Federal Election, Victoria Buzz headed to social media to gauge the reactions of Canadians. 

Some voters remained proud of their chosen parties, despite lack of power.

 

Some lamented what they felt was a lack of acknowledgement on Climate Change

 

Others celebrated a progressive leader remaining in power.

 

And Alberta immediately wanted to jump ship and separate from the rest of Canada (#wexit), leading to responses like these: 

 

While some expressed anger over Trudeau’s lack of promised electoral reform.

Others do not find Trudeau to be a progressive leader at all, and instead are left feeling disappointed by last night’s results. 

 

One of the more humorous anecdotes on Twitter came from user @davidpleonard, who pointed out that two Maxime Berniers ran in the riding of Beauce, Quebec. 

Some didn’t know HOW to feel.

 

Some used memes to process the events of the night.

 

Canadian Satire magazine, The Beaverton, poked fun at Andrew Scheer for reports of him lying about being an accredited insurance broker.

In what was perhaps surprising to some, Donald Trump reacted positively to Trudeau reclaiming power once again.

 

Despite not publicly endorsing Trudeau, Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, also sent him well wishes and expressed the desire to work alongside Canada in future endeavours.

 

In the end, it seems that Canadians are less than surprised with these results. After all, power has been shifting back and forth between Conservatives to Liberals for the past 150 years. 

While there may not have been a momentous shift in power or stance, this remains an important moment in Canadian politics. 

Previously, the average amount of time for a minority government to last is one year. The Liberals will have to regain trust and momentum if they want to survive in power any longer than that.