Justin Trudeau has no plans to quit even after losing Toronto-St. Paul election: Reports

Conservative candidate Don Stewart was elected by voters in Toronto-St. Paul’s to the House of Commons, overturning a seat that has voted Liberal in every election since 1993.

Ahead of Canada’s national vote expected Oct 2025, Conservative Party’s winning a special election in a district in central Toronto was a substantial blow to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party.

There was a consensus among Liberal MPs that if the prime minister was intent on staying, something significant would have to change.

The most common ideas were formation of a new cabinet built with the purpose of taking the fight to Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre or a major shakeup in the senior political staff.

According to preliminary Elections Canada data Stewart won 42 percent of the vote defeating Liberal candidate Leslie Church, who had just over 40 percent.

In the 2021 election, the Liberals won the seat by well over 10,000 votes while  the Conservatives received about 2,000 more votes in St. Paul’s than in the 2021 election.

By consistently winning big in Canada’s largest city Toronto, the Liberals have helped the party hold power since 2015.

If Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives’ double-digit lead in polling were to hold up in a national vote, Conservatives would be on track to win a majority government .

With Canada’s economy growing at a sluggish pace where  housing are unavailable to many as borrowers struggling with  elevated interest rates making housing, the Conservative focused its campaign largely on the Liberals’ economic record

Repeatedly accusing Trudeau of being too soft in supporting Israel and failing to combat antisemitism at home, the conservative party sought to win support from a Jewish population that comprises about 11 percent of the district.

“There’s been so much talk about how Poilievre couldn’t appeal to these areas, because he’s too conservative, too angry, or whatever other reason. Turns out, that’s not true…This isn’t just about the Liberals losing, it’s also about the Conservatives winning,”  said Ginny Roth, a partner at Crestview Strategy and a former adviser to Poilievre.

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)