OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hung onto power after a tight election on Monday that saw his government reduced to a minority, but aides predicted he would be able to govern for two years without many problems.
Trudeau, one of the world’s most prominent progressive politicians, struggled to overcome the effects of two domestic scandals. His Liberals were leading or elected in 157 seats, a decrease of 20, preliminary results showed.
He now looks set to govern with the left-leaning New Democrats, who have 24 seats. Together the two parties can muster a majority 180 seats in the 338-seat House of Commons.
Minority governments in Canada rarely last more than 2-1/2 years. Although the New Democrats lost 16 seats, leader Jagmeet Singh is now in a good position to press for action on priorities such as more social spending and increased action on climate change.
One senior Liberal also noted that many legislators needed to serve for another two years to meet the six-year requirement for a Parliamentary pension.
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