Canadians have spoken! After securing a total of 158 seats, Justin Trudeau’s Liberals have received a third mandate from voters, returning their government to power to chart the country’s post-pandemic future.
How did Canadians vote?
While the Liberals retained enough seats to form another minority government, the Conservatives won every riding in Saskatchewan, nearly swept all of Alberta and Manitoba, and won roughly 34% of the popular vote (nearly two percentage points more than the Liberals). They will remain the Official Opposition with 119 seats, slightly less than the 121 seats they secured in 2019.
Meanwhile the New Democratic Party are getting a slight increase in their representation in the House of Commons, winning 25 seats, up from 24 in the previous election.
The Bloc Québécois strengthened their presence in Quebec, increasing their seat count from 32 to 34.
After a shaky campaign, the Greens managed to hang onto their 2 remaining seats.
For full riding-by-riding election results, a breakdown by province and overall party standings, visit: CBCNews.ca
What will this mean for foodservice?
The minority status of the re-elected Liberal government will present some challenges as well as opportunities as our hardest-hit industry continues to pull through and recover from the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.
With the same party in power, the federal government should be able to get back to work after a minimal transition period. This means work that was previously underway on issues of importance to the foodservice sector can resume without significant delays.
However, given their minority status, the Liberals will need the support of other parties to advance their agenda. Alliances might need to be sought before progress can be made on certain issues.
With most foodservice businesses still struggling to survive in the wake of COVID-19, Restaurants Canada will continue to focus on advocating for government action in the following areas:
- Restaurant Survival Support
- Restaurant Relaunch Measures
- Labour Development
- A “Do No Harm” Approach to Taxes, Fees & Red Tape
Visit SupportRestaurants.ca to:
- Watch our video featuring restaurant operators from across the country talking about what they need to survive the ongoing pandemic.
- Learn about our full list of government policy recommendations and share them with your network.
After sharing these recommendations during the election campaign period, Restaurants Canada was encouraged to see platform commitments from all the main federal parties responding to a number of our key asks.
Restaurants Canada will be working to ensure that all the policy pledges they put forward to help our hardest-hit sector will remain on the table for the newly re-elected government.
What comes next?
Cabinet ministers are likely to be named in the coming weeks, with accompanying mandate letters that will confirm the new government’s agenda.
Restaurants Canada looks forward to working with all new and existing Members of Parliament and other key federal government decision-makers on ways to help restaurants across the country successfully transition from survival to revival.
Restaurants Canada Digital
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