`All sorts of reflections' for Grits after loss of Montreal stronghold
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the Liberals have lots to ponder after losing a second stronghold in a byelection in Montreal.
“Obviously, it's never fun to come so close and not win a byelection,” Trudeau said Tuesday morning in French, a few hours after Elections Canada confirmed the Bloc Quebecois had defeated the Liberals in Lasalle-emard-verdun.
The Bloc's Louis-philippe Sauve, an administrator at the Institute for Research in Contemporary Economics, beat Liberal Laura Palestini by less than 250 votes in the byelection.
The NDP finished about 600 votes back of the winner.
“I think there's all sorts of reflections to take,” Trudeau said when asked what led to the loss.
“Obviously, it would have been nicer to be able to win and hold Verdun, but there's more work to do and we're going to stay focused on doing it,” Trudeau told reporters in English.
He would not say it this result puts his leadership in question.
“We know that we have a lot of work to do to regain the trust of people, in Lasalle and people across the country, who are worried about the situation they find themselves in,” Trudeau said in French.
At a press conference in his riding Tuesday morning, Sauve confirmed to reporters that he still needs to end his existing employment, saying he had been cautiously optimistic about winning the riding.
The former Hill staffer pledged to have good constituency service, claiming Montrealers in Liberal ridings had turned to Bloc MPS after shoddy treatment.
Bloc leader Yves-francois Blanchet told reporters his party won by highlighting Quebecers' concerns on issues like immigration and assisted suicide.
Blanchet noted in English that the riding has a large amount of anglophones.
“As I always said, an English Quebecer is as much (of) a Quebecer as I am. And I would dream of some of them saying `this idea of a country is not such a bad idea. Let's think about that, let's discuss this,”' Blanchet said.