For a decade, Stephen Harper remained Canada’s prime minister largely through a combination of opposition ineffectiveness, fear mongering about crime and terrorism, and his ability to convince enough Canadians that their economy was doing better than others.
In the election last October, he was unable to enlarge his roughly 30 percent base among the electorate and suffered a humiliating defeat from voters soured by his government’s perceived anti-democratic measures, mean attitudes, and scorn for the media.
More than 17 million Canadians (68.5 percent of eligible voters) voted—the highest participation rate since 1993. With a comfortable majority of 184 seats and with Liberals elected across Canada, Justin Trudeau won an undeniable national mandate for change.
