The governing party in Canada, the Liberal Party, has lost a closely fought by-election in Toronto, which observers say bodes ill for the party and its leader, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The by-election had become necessary in the riding (as constituencies are known in Canada) after the sitting MP, Carolyn Bennett, resigned to become the country’s ambassador to Denmark. The riding has been a relatively safe Liberal seat for some time, with the party having held it since 1993.
Many observers believed that the by-election would effectively be a ‘referendum’ on the leadership of Trudeau, who is becoming increasingly unpopular in Canada.
In the by-election the candidate for the Conservative Party of Canada, Don Stewart, won 42.1% of the vote, against the 40.5% won by the Liberal candidate, Leslie Church.
The candidate from the New Democratic Party won 10%, with no other party making an impact.
The constituency saw 84 candidates stand, breaking the previous record for a Canadian by-election. The ballot paper was a metre long.
However, the large number of candidates was partly because the by-election was targeted by an organisation which is lobbying for electoral reform and to do away with the first-part-the-post system in Canada. A number of its activists stood so as to make the ballot paper unwieldy and draw attention to the weaknesses of the first-past-the-post system.
Stewart said the result showed that ‘the country is waiting for change’.
Trudeau has been Prime Minister since 2015. The next election must be held before October next year, with most observers believing that Trudeau and the Liberals are likely to lose.