Ottawa:

In a stunning blow to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, his Liberal Party lost a closely-watched federal by-election on Tuesday to the Conservatives from a longtime Liberal stronghold, prompting opposition leader Pierre Poilievre to demand a snap election.

In a nail-biting finish, Conservative candidate Don Stewart won the Liberal stronghold of Toronto-St. Paul’s by defeating Liberal Party’s Leslie Church by 590 votes. The contest also featured Amrit Parhar, an Indian-origin candidate from the New Democratic Party.

Toronto-St. Paul’s is a federal electoral district in Toronto, Ontario province. The Liberal Party had held Toronto-St Paul’s since 1993. It is one of 338 seats in the House of Commons.

Stewart’s victory over Church is shocking because the seat has been held by the Liberals for more than 30 years, Canadian media commented.

Before Monday, the seat was held by the Liberals for 10 successive elections. Former MP Carolyn Bennett — whose appointment as ambassador to Denmark triggered the byelection — had been the local representative for over 25 years.

“Thank you, Toronto-St. Paul’s! I am beyond humbled for the trust you have put in me and I will never take it for granted. I promise to be YOUR voice on Parliament Hill,” Stewart posted on X.

His rival, Church in her remarks after she lost the race, noted that the Liberals have got 16 months until the next election. “I plan to be the Liberal candidate in St. Paul’s. We start working to earn back the trust of voters…,” she posted on X.

“Congratulations to Don Stewart on a well run campaign. We look forward to the rematch,” she wrote.

According to the preliminary results, Stewart won 42.1 per cent of the vote with 15,555 votes cast for him, while Church received 40.5 per cent of the vote, with 14,965 ballots cast for her. The NDP candidate Parhar came a distant third with 10.9 per cent of the votes. Christian Cullis, who ran for the Green Party, received 2.9 per cent of the votes.

Losing the historic stronghold is likely to pile pressure on Prime Minister Trudeau, Global News reported.

“The Liberals’ poor showing in a stronghold like this could prompt some soul-searching for Trudeau, who has seen his popularity plummet as inflation, the cost of living crisis, high home prices and surging immigration levels drive voter discontent,” CBC News commented.

This Conservative upset is likely to lead to some anxiety in the Liberal caucus because such a dramatic vote swing could put other supposedly “safe” seats in play for the Conservatives in the next general election, expected to be in 2025, it said.

Conservative Leader Poilievre demanded Prime Minister Trudeau call a snap election after what he described as a “shocking upset” on social media Tuesday.

“Here is the verdict: Trudeau can’t go on like this. He must call a carbon tax election now,” Poilievre wrote on X.

Voters in Toronto-St. Paul’s told CBC News throughout the campaign that the government’s handling of the housing crisis, inflation and the Israel-Hamas conflict were sore spots.

But it wasn’t just about the issues – several voters expressed a desire for change and fatigue with Trudeau.

Even past and present Liberal supporters told CBC News Trudeau should resign as leader if the party loses this one-time ruby-red Liberal seat.

Trudeau, whose allegations in September last year of “potential” involvement of Indian agents in the killing of a Sikh terrorist in Canada caused a severe strain in Ottawa’s relations with New Delhi, has given no indication he’s stepping down.

The 52-year-old prime minister has repeatedly said he will lead the Liberal Party into the federal election that is expected sometime next year.

Meanwhile, national polling shows Trudeau’s Liberal Party struggling to attract and retain support, with Conservative support growing.  A poll conducted by Ipsos for Global News suggested Trudeau’s waning popularity appears to be “dragging” the Liberals’ fortunes down.

A majority of voters (68 per cent) want him to step down, with Ipsos CEO Darrell Bricker describing the numbers as “close to rock bottom,” while Conservative Leader Poilievre, 45, is gaining ground.

That poll put the Conservatives at 42 per cent of the decided vote, with the Liberals at 24 per cent. Almost half – 44 per cent – said they felt Conservative Leader Poilievre would make the best prime minister, while 75 per cent of Canadians want another party to take government from the Liberals.

Just 25 per cent think the Liberals “deserve reelection,” Global News reported.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Montreal:

Facing grueling conditions worthy of a Dantean hell, up against soaring walls of blistering flames, thousands of firefighters mobilized throughout the Canadian summer. They came out exhausted and worried for the future.

Four of them described to AFP their experiences as this record-breaking wildfire season comes to a close.

– ‘Crazy’ summer –

Isabelle Boucher, 26, spent the entire “crazy” summer in the Canadian wilds working 12-hour days.

“I didn’t see anything, I didn’t do anything. I just worked,” the firefighter said.

Standing just five feet tall (1.5 meters), the new recruit was deployed to beat back intense fires that flared across Quebec.

While not worried about her physical health, Boucher admitted to being mentally exhausted.

She is not alone: this year’s wildfire season has weighed heavily on the morale of all firefighters, she said.

“The future is scary,” she added, eager for a break.

– ‘Huge tinderbox’ –

At 21, Alfred James (AJ) Lawrance is already a somewhat seasoned firefighter. He too admitted to feeling exhausted, “desperate for a break after working nonstop through the summer.”

He deployed in the Northwest Territories, notably to fight fires advancing on Yellowknife in the far north, a city that had to be evacuated in August.

“The lack of rain this summer made things extremely difficult and transformed all the vegetation into a huge tinderbox,” he said.

An avid outdoorsman, he said he sometimes felt helpless. “It’s hard to see friends’ houses and cabins destroyed and not be able to do anything because the fire is too extreme.”

A forestry student, he worries about the future: “As summers get hotter and it rains less and less, fires move closer to communities and cities. It’s a huge threat.”

– A bigger, badder new ‘normal’ –

Firefighter Kara Galbraith, 29, said her job was very much like an organized sport, with huge emphasis on teamwork, physical fitness and a common goal.

A former rugby player from British Columbia, a western province hard hit by fires, she is an almost 10-year veteran of the local forest fire service.

Galbraith began firefighting to pay for schooling but fell in love with the job and stuck with it. Through most of the summer, she was on the front lines leading a team of 18 firefighters.

She said her university background in geomatics — collecting and interpreting data about the earth’s surface — “helps me map fires and give crews situational awareness.”

After years battling blazes, Galbraith said the increasing intensity and number of wildfires is becoming the new normal.

The fire season is starting earlier and lasting longer each year, she said, beginning as soon as the snow melts and stretching through October.

“That’s a really long fire season,” Galbraith said, adding that it is wearing down firefighters, whose numbers have been recognized as too few to meet needs.

– ‘Never again’ –

Luc Boutin, at 60, is among Canada’s oldest volunteer firefighters, with nearly 30 years experience. He told AFP he’s never seen it this bad, adding, “We’re really scared.”

A pulp mill worker by day in Lebel-sur-Quevillon, Quebec, he is new to wildfires, having trained in dealing with house fires.

In his small town nestled in the heart of the boreal forest, he said, “the fire came very close to the pulp mill.” 

“It was a wall of flames. I was scared.”

“I hope I never experience that again,” Boutin added, explaining that “there were mornings where you couldn’t see a few feet in front of you because the smoke was so thick.”

Although wary of a repeat next summer, he recalled fondly the incredible solidarity that developed among the firefighters with whom he shared barracks for three weeks.

And, Boutin added, “peoples’ recognition of our hard work warmed the heart.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

The Biden administration will likely try to stay out of the diplomatic dispute between Canada and India as much it can, aiming not to disrupt the progress it’s made in its relationship with PM Narendra Modi’s government, the founder of political strategy firm Signum Global Advisors says. “We’re doing everything we can to engage with India to try to help outcompete China, and I don’t think the United States is going to get too involved” in the dispute, Signum Chairman Charles Myers said on BNN Bloomberg Television. Myers, former vice chairman at Evercore, is a longtime Democratic Party donor who has raised money for Biden.

Canada and India relations have been strained over the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was shot on June 18 in Surrey, a suburb of Vancouver. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said this week there’s “credible” evidence that links the Indian government to the murder of Nijjar. “Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty,” Trudeau said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday urged India to work with Canada in its investigation in the case. “We want to see accountability, and it’s important that the investigation run its course and lead to that result,” he said.

But US and other allies have stopped short of taking any specific retaliatory measures, such as expelling Indian diplomats.

The Indian government, which denied involvement in the killing, has designated Nijjar as a Khalistani terrorist and criticized Trudeau’s government for not doing more to combat “anti-India activities” within the Indian diaspora in Canada.

Canada kicked out a senior Indian diplomat from the country, and India retaliated in a tit-for-tat move. India has suspended visa applications for Canadians, a measure that will choke off business and leisure travel from Canada if it’s kept in place for long.

“For Prime Minister Trudeau to even make these allegations public, he has to have very good intel and evidence, given how serious the allegation is,” said Myers. “If true, it is an example of state-sponsored terrorism on Canadian soil.”

Even so, the US is “going to try to stay out of this,” he said.

The Biden administration will likely try to stay out of the diplomatic dispute between Canada and India as much it can, aiming not to disrupt the progress it’s made in its relationship with PM Narendra Modi’s government, the founder of political strategy firm Signum Global Advisors says. “We’re doing everything we can to engage with India to try to help outcompete China, and I don’t think the United States is going to get too involved” in the dispute, Signum Chairman Charles Myers said on BNN Bloomberg Television. Myers, former vice chairman at Evercore, is a longtime Democratic Party donor who has raised money for Biden.

Canada and India relations have been strained over the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was shot on June 18 in Surrey, a suburb of Vancouver. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said this week there’s “credible” evidence that links the Indian government to the murder of Nijjar. “Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty,” Trudeau said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday urged India to work with Canada in its investigation in the case. “We want to see accountability, and it’s important that the investigation run its course and lead to that result,” he said.

But US and other allies have stopped short of taking any specific retaliatory measures, such as expelling Indian diplomats.

The Indian government, which denied involvement in the killing, has designated Nijjar as a Khalistani terrorist and criticized Trudeau’s government for not doing more to combat “anti-India activities” within the Indian diaspora in Canada.

Canada kicked out a senior Indian diplomat from the country, and India retaliated in a tit-for-tat move. India has suspended visa applications for Canadians, a measure that will choke off business and leisure travel from Canada if it’s kept in place for long.

“For Prime Minister Trudeau to even make these allegations public, he has to have very good intel and evidence, given how serious the allegation is,” said Myers. “If true, it is an example of state-sponsored terrorism on Canadian soil.”

Even so, the US is “going to try to stay out of this,” he said.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks at the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada September 22, 2023
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Canada shared evidence that Indian government agents were potentially involved in the murder of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia with New Delhi weeks ago, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Friday.

“Canada has shared the credible allegations that I talked about on Monday with India. We did that many weeks ago,” Mr. Trudeau told a news conference in Ottawa. “We are there to work constructively with India. We hope that they engage with us so that we can get to the bottom of this very serious matter.”

Mr. Trudeau said on Monday that Ottawa had credible intelligence linking Indian government agents to the murder in June of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, prompting an angry reaction from New Delhi. Nijjar, 45, was a Canadian citizen.

The Canadian government has amassed both human and signals intelligence in a months-long investigation into the Sikh separatist leader’s murder, CBC News reported separately on Thursday citing sources.

The report said the intelligence included communications of Indian officials present in Canada, adding that some of the information was provided by an unidentified ally in the Five Eyes alliance.

Five Eyes is an intelligence-sharing network that includes the U.S., the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

However, Mr. Trudeau has not provided any details about what Canada’s spy agencies have collected, and his office has not confirmed or denied the CBC report.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday the United States wanted to see “accountability” over the killing.

“We are deeply concerned about the allegations that Prime Minister Trudeau has raised,” Mr. Blinken told reporters in a press briefing. The White House has raised similar concerns, but Mr. Blinken is the most senior U.S. official to have commented on the issue thus far.