Canada election result prompts internal party reviews

Significance

The governing Liberal Party presented the election as the most important in decades as it sought a mandate to lead the country’s emergence from the pandemic. Instead, the election delivered little change, leaving Prime Minister Justin Trudeau heading a minority government, most likely with support from the left-leaning New Democratic Party (NDP) as before.

Impacts

• An expected cabinet shuffle will see new ministers at key departments including Justice and Foreign Affairs.
• Provinces will drop their resistance to the proposed childcare programme, which will be in effect before the end of 2022.
• No new pipelines will be proposed or built while Trudeau remains in office, given perceived government hostility to fossil fuels.
• The transfer to the provinces of significant responsibility for healthcare will go ahead as decentralisation accelerates.