Justin Trudeau and his family celebrate the Liberals election in on Sept. 20, 2021. (The Canadian Press)

By paNOW Staff

ELECTION 2021

Year in Review: A look back on the 2021 Federal Election

Dec 29, 2021 | 12:00 PM

As 2021 draws to a close, paNOW is taking a look back on the most important and impactful stories of the year, as selected by our reporters and editorial staff.

“Everything old is new again”. That was just one of the headlines that ran the morning after Justin Trudeau and the Liberals claimed a second minority government in the federal election.

Rumours of an early race to the ballots were swirling for months, even despite the COVID-19 pandemic raising concerns across Canada.

Nonetheless, Prime Minister Trudeau asked the Governor-General to dissolve Parliament on Aug. 15, paving the way for an election on Sept. 20.

Before the campaign officially began, the Liberals had 157 seats, with the Conservatives at 121 followed by the Bloc Quebecois at 32, the NDP at 24 and the Green Party at three.

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When the final votes were tallied, Trudeau and his party gained 160 seats while the Tories and new leader Erin O’Toole lost two seats for a total of 119. Jagmeet Singh and the New Democrats won 25 seats, one more than they had before the election, while the Bloc remained unchanged.

The Green Party had two seats, a loss of one seat. Newly minted leader Annamie Paul failed to win her election bid and saw support for her party drop. She resigned just days later.

(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Tijana Martin)

While the results are almost mirror from the last vote two years ago, some seats saw a shift. While the Conservatives made some inroads in Atlantic Canada, it wasn’t enough to control the Maritime seats. Meanwhile, the Liberals were able to take some seats away from the Tories, including one in Calgary.

The biggest win for the Green Party came with its first-ever seat in Ontario, as Mike Morrice won the seat for Kitchener-Centre.

While they claimed zero seats in this election, The People’s Party of Canada saw its support climb since the last vote, rising in popularity in some ridings in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

While there were early rumblings of close calls in some Saskatchewan ridings, all 14 seats went blue, some by an overwhelming margin.

Prince Albert re-elected Randy Hoback as its MP and committed to holding the Liberals to account on his return to Ottawa.

(Submitted Photo/Randy Hoback)

“The only reason to call this election was because Trudeau read the polls or the tea leaves and thought he could get a majority government,” Hoback said after his election win. “He wanted to seize power. So I look forward to getting back to Ottawa and hold their feet to the fire and make sure Western Canada is properly represented.”

Reaction to the results was mixed with Premier Scott Moe going as far as saying it was “the most pointless election in Canada’s history.”

“The Prime Minister spent $600 million of taxpayers’ dollars and five weeks further dividing the country to arrive at almost the same result as where we started,” Moe said. “This time and money could have been spent working to address real issues facing Canadians, including properly funding Canada’s chronically underfunded health system, working with provinces to increase vaccination rates in some of our hardest-to-reach communities, and positioning Canada and its provinces as leaders in the global economic recovery.”

After the voters’ boxes were cleared and the celebrations ended, it was time to get back to work but it would be two more months before Parliament would reopened with the Speech from the Throne. That moment appeared short-lived as MPs would wrap up the session less than a month later.

They return to the House of Commons at the end of January.

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panews@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @princealbertNOW