`Thank you Canada for choosing a brighter future`: PM Justin Trudeau after winning third term

Trudeau, who narrowly won re-election but failed to secure a majority in parliament, also thanked Canadians for putting their trust in the Liberal Party.

New Delhi: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday (September 21, 2021) thanked the citizens of Canada after his Liberal Party won its third straight Canadian federal election. 

Trudeau, who narrowly won re-election but failed to secure a majority in parliament, took to Twitter and said, "Thank you, Canada — for casting your vote, for putting your trust in the Liberal team, for choosing a brighter future. We're going to finish the fight against COVID. And we're going to move Canada forward. For everyone."

The 49-year-old leader had taken a gamble with his early election call two years ahead of schedule, betting that his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and Canada's high vaccination rates would deliver him a stronger mandate to rule after the 2019 vote left him with a minority government.

"What we've seen tonight is that millions of Canadians have chosen a progressive plan, and some have talked about the division, but that's not what I see," he said after his rival Erin O'Toole, the leader of Canada's main opposition Conservative Party, conceded defeat. 

"I see Canadians standing together," Trudeau added.

Trudeau, a father of three, comes from Canadian political royalty as he was born to a sitting Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau. He took over Liberal Party in 2013 and swept to power two years later. 

(With agency inputs)