Electoral history of Justin Trudeau

This article is the Electoral history of Justin Trudeau, the twenty-third and current Prime Minister of Canada. Trudeau is currently serving two terms since November 4, 2015.

A liberal, Trudeau was successful in his first general election as leader of the Liberal Party, which he defeated then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservatives in the general election of 2015 and formed a majority government. He was re-elected with a minority government in 2019.

Trudeau has stood for election to the House of Commons of Canada four times and was elected each time (2008, 2011, 2015, 2019).

Trudeau was elected leader of the Liberal Party in 2013, succeeding Michael Ignatieff, who retired from politics after losing the general election of 2011.

Summary

Canada has had ten provinces and three territories throughout Trudeau's term as Prime Minister.

Trudeau currently ranks fourteenth out of twenty-three prime ministers for time in office, being in office for 5 years, 92 days.[1]

Trudeau is the eighth prime minister from Quebec, the others being Sir John Abbott, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Louis St. Laurent, Pierre Trudeau, Brian Mulroney, Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin. He is also the fifth francophone prime minister, the others being Laurier, St. Laurent, Pierre Trudeau, and Chretien.

Trudeau was first elected to the House of Commons in 2008, at age 36. The Liberals were in opposition after the 2008 and 2011 general elections. Under Liberal leader Stéphane Dion, Trudeau was the Liberal critic for Citizenship and Immigration, Youth and Multiculturalism. The next leader, Michael Ignatieff, appointed him critic for Sports and Post-Secondary Education.[1][2]

In the 2011 general election, the Liberals under the leadership of Ignatieff were reduced to third party status, their worst showing in history. Ignatieff lost his own seat and retired from politics. Trudeau announced he would seek the party leadership. In the 2013 vote, he won the leadership on the first ballot with 80% support.[2]

Trudeau led the Liberals in the general election of 2015. At dissolution, the Liberals were in third place in the Commons, behind the Conservative Party, which held a majority government, and the New Democratic Party, which formed the Official Opposition. Trudeau led the Liberals to a majority government, defeating both the Conservatives led by Stephen Harper and the New Democrats led by Thomas Mulcair. Trudeau's government was sworn in on November 4, 2015.

Trudeau has stood for election to the Commons four times, in 2008, 2011, 2015 and 2019, all for the riding of Papineau. He has served in the House of Commons for 12 years, 113 days.[3]

Federal general elections: 2015 and 2019

Trudeau led the Liberal Party in two general elections. He won two (2015 and 2019). He won a majority government in the 2015 election, and then a minority in the 2019 election.

Federal general election, 2015

In the 2015 election, the Liberals under Trudeau came from third place in the Commons at dissolution to winning a majority government, defeating Prime Minister Harper.

Canadian Federal Election, 2015 - Parties, Leaders, Seats Won and Popular Vote

Party		Leaders	Seats Won	Popular Vote
	Liberal	Justin Trudeau^1	184	39.47%
	Conservative	Stephen Harper^2	99	31.9%
	New Democratic Party	Thomas Mulcair^3	44	19.7%
	Bloc Québécois	Gilles Duceppe	10	4.7%
	Green	Elizabeth May	1	3.5%
Total			338	99.3%^4
Sources: Library of Parliament – History of Federal Ridings since 1867

¹ Leader of a third party when election was called; Prime Minister after election.
² Prime Minister when election was called; Member of Parliament after the election.
³ Leader of the Opposition when election was called; leader of a third party after the election.
⁴ Table does not include parties which received votes but did not elect any members.

Federal general election, 2019

In the 2019 election, Trudeau was re-elected with a minority government, defeating the new Conservative leader, Andrew Scheer.

Canadian Federal Election, 2019 - Parties, Leaders, Seats Won and Popular Vote

Party		Leaders	Seats Won	Popular Vote
	Liberal	Justin Trudeau^1	157	33.1%
	Conservative	Andrew Scheer^2	121	34.4%
	Bloc Québécois	Yves-François Blanchet	32	7.7%
	New Democratic Party	Jagmeet Singh	24	15.9%
	Green	Elizabeth May	3	6.5%
	Independent		1	0.4%
Total			338	98.0%^3
Sources: Elections Canada: October 21, 2019 Federal Election - Election Results

¹ Prime Minister when election was called; Prime Minister after election.
² Leader of the Opposition when election was called; Leader of the Opposition after the election.
³ Table does not include parties which received votes but did not elect any members.

Federal constituency elections: 2008 to 2019

Trudeau has stood for election to the House of Commons four times, in 2008, 2011, 2015 and 2019, all for the riding of Papineau. He was elected the first four times.

2008 Federal Election: Papineau

Federal Election, 2008: Papineau, Quebec

Party		Candidate	Popular Vote	%
	Liberal	Justin Trudeau	17,724	41.5%
	Bloc Québécois	X Vivian Barbot	16,535	38.7%
	New Democratic Party	Costa Zafiropoulos	3,734	8.7%
	Conservative	Mustaque Sarker	3,262	7.6%
	Green	Ingrid Hein	1,213	2.8%
	Independent	Mahmoud Raza Baig	267	0.6%
Total			42,735	99.9%^1
Source: Library of Parliament – History of Federal Ridings since 1867: Papineau

Elected.
X Incumbent.
¹ Rounding error.

2011 Federal Election: Papineau

Federal Election, 2011: Papineau, Quebec

Party		Candidate	Popular Vote	%
	Liberal	X Justin Trudeau	16,429	38.4%
	New Democratic Party	Marcos Radomes Tejada	12,102	28.3%
	Bloc Québécois	Vivian Barbot	11,091	25.9%
	Conservative	Shama Chopra	2,021	4.7%
	Green	Danny Polifroni	806	1.9%
	Marxist–Leninist	Peter Macrisopoulos	228	0.5%
	Non-affiliated	Joseph Young	95	0.2%
Total			42,772	99.9%^1
Source: Library of Parliament – History of Federal Ridings since 1867: Papineau

Elected.
X Incumbent.
¹ Rounding error.

2015 Federal Election: Papineau

Federal Election, 2011: Papineau, Quebec

Party		Candidate	Popular Vote	%
	Liberal	X Justin Trudeau	26,391	52.0%
	New Democratic Party	Anne Lagacé Dowson	13,132	25.9%
	Bloc Québécois	Maxime Claveau	6,182	12.2%
	Conservative	Yvon Vadnais	2,390	4.7%
	Green	Danny Polifroni	1,443	2.8%
	Independent	Chris Lloyd	505	1.0%
	Rhinoceros	Tommy Gaudet	323	0.6%
	Independent	Kim Waldron	159	0.3%
	Marxist–Leninist	Peter Macrisopoulos	142	0.3%
	Non-affiliated	Beverly Bernardo	103	0.2%
Total			50,770	100.0%
Source: Library of Parliament – History of Federal Ridings since 1867: Papineau

Elected.
X Incumbent.

2019 Federal Election: Papineau

Trudeau was re-elected in the 2019 general election.

Federal Election, 2019: Papineau, Quebec

Party		Candidate	Popular Vote	%
	Liberal	X Justin Trudeau	24,797	51.2%
	New Democratic	Christine Paré	9,135	18.9%
	Bloc Québécois	Christian Gagnon	7,722	15.9%
	Green	Juan Vazquez	3,673	7.6%
	Conservative	Sophie Veilleux	2,095	4.3%
	Rhinoceros	Jean-Patrick Cacereco Berthiaume	334	0.7%
	People's	Mark Sibthorpe	311	0.6%
	Christian Heritage	Susanne Lefebvre	184	0.4%
	No affiliation	Luc Lupien	73	0.2%
	Independent	Alain Magnan	73	0.2%
	No affiliation	Steve Penner	54	0.1%
Total			48,451	100.1%^1
Source: Elections Canada - October 21, 2019 Federal Election - Election Results - Papineau

Elected.
X Incumbent.
¹ Rounding error.

2013 Liberal Party leadership election

Following the 2011 general election, the leader of the Liberals, Michael Ignatieff, announced his retirement. Trudeau entered the leadership contest, which was held in April, 2013. The vote was based on the 308 Liberal riding associations, which each had 100 points. All members of the party had the right to vote in the election through their riding associations. The points for each riding association were allocated in proportion to the local vote.

Liberal Leadership Election, April 14, 2013
First and only ballot

Candidate		Votes cast		Points won
	Justin Trudeau	81,389	78.8%	24,668	80.1%
	Joyce Murray	12,148	11.8%	3,130	10.2%
	Martha Hall Findlay	6,585	6.4%	1,760	5.7%
	Martin Cauchon	1,630	1.6%	815	2.6%
	Deborah Coyne	833	0.8%	214	0.7%
	Karen McCrimmon	757	0.7%	210	0.7%
Total		103,342	100.1%^1	30,797	100.0%
Sources: Huffington Post: Justin Trudeau Wins Liberal Leadership Race In Resounding Fashion; Globe & Mail: Justin Trudeau elected Liberal leader in a landslide.

¹ Rounding error.

See also

• Electoral history of Stephen Harper - Trudeau's predecessor as Prime Minister.

References

1. PARLINFO: Prime Ministers of Canada.
2. Canadian Encyclopedia: "Justin Trudeau".
3. PARLINFO: The Right Hon. Justin Trudeau, P.C.

External links

• Library of Parliament: History of Federal Ridings since 1867
• Huffington Post: Justin Trudeau Wins Liberal Leadership Race In Resounding Fashion
• Globe & Mail: Justin Trudeau elected Liberal leader in a landslide.