Canada’s Liberal party, headed by Justin Trudeau, is headed towards a stunning election victory, toppling the pro-Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Reuters reported, citing projections by Canada’s major television networks.
The projected win in Monday’s poll ends the Conservatives’ nine-year run in power and reflects a political shift away from Harper’s fiscal and cultural conservatism.
The Conservatives were projected to become the official opposition in Parliament, with the left-leaning New Democratic Party (NDP) in third.
Liberal supporters at the party’s campaign headquarters broke into cheers and whistles when television projected that Trudeau would be the next prime minister.
At the Conservative election headquarters in Calgary, where Harper is due to speak later, supporters sat quietly, noted Reuters.
Trudeau, 43, the son of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, vaulted from third place to lead the polls in the last days of the campaign, noted the news agency.
While the final vote count was not yet complete, early results suggested the Liberals could even win a majority of Parliament’s 338 seats.
Harper is known as a staunch supporter of Israel and continued to stand by the Jewish state during turbulent times, including last summer’s Operation Protective Edge in Gaza.
Just last week, Harper’s Defense Minister Jason Kenney condemned the terrorist attacks across Israel and stressed that the Conservative party will continue to stand alongside Israel.
Trudeau’s Liberals have also expressed support for Israel, and during a recent debate, Trudeau noted, “The issue of Israel where we most disagree as Liberals with Mr. Harper is that he has made support for Israel a domestic political football, when all three of us support Israel and any Canadian government will.”
The Liberal leader has said he will repair Canada’s cool relations with the Obama administration, withdraw Canada from the combat mission against Islamic State in favor of humanitarian aid, and tackle climate change.
Trudeau has consistently opposed Harper’s counter-terror moves, including proposed legislation last year to cancel the citizenship of terrorists.
He once condemned Harper in a Farsi-language local paper of supporting Israel to gain Jewish votes – even as he called for rapprochement with Iran in the Canadian-Iranian paper.
