Two Liberal cabinet ministers, two party leaders lose election bids

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This article was published 20/09/2021 (1499 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA – Two incumbent Liberal ministers along with two party leaders suffered defeat in the federal election on Monday.

Green Party Leader Annamie Paul lost her bid to win a seat in the House of Commons in Toronto Centre.

This was her third time seeking the downtown Toronto seat, considered a Liberal stronghold. She lost to former finance minister Bill Morneau in the 2019 federal election.

She also ran unsuccessfully in an October 2020 byelection, losing to Liberal Marci Ien, who was re-elected tonight.

That contest took place about three weeks after Paul won the Green Party leadership race.

People’s Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier also lost his attempt to get elected in the Quebec riding of Beauce.

Bernier previously represented the riding south of Quebec City from 2006 to 2019.

He was a cabinet minister in the Conservative government of former prime minister Stephen Harper, where his portfolios included industry and foreign affairs.

He ran for the Conservative leadership in 2017, placing second to former leader Andrew Scheer.

He left the Conservative party in August 2018 to serve as an Independent MP and then launched the People’s Party of Canada the next month.

Liberal leader and re-elected Prime Minister Justin Trudeau held his seat in Papineau, as did Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole in Durham and Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet in Beloiel-Chambly.

Liberal Fisheries and Oceans Minister Bernadette Jordan was defeated in the South Shore—St. Margarets riding in Nova Scotia by Conservative candidate Rick Perkins.

Jordan was first elected as a member of Parliament in 2015 and has served as a minister in Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau’s government since 2019.

Last year, she was criticized over her handling of the dispute involving Indigenous fishing rights in Nova Scotia when a conflict between commercial fishers and Mi’kmaq fishers escalated and made national headlines.

Maryam Monsef, minister responsible for the status of women and rural economic development, also lost her seat in Peterborough-Kawartha.

Conservative Michelle Ferreri defeated Monsef, who had represented the riding since 2015.

The result is unique as Peterborough-Kawartha is a noted bellwether riding that is rarely won by an opposition party.

Meanwhile, Natural Resources Minister Seamus O’Regan was re-elected in the St. John’s South—Mount Pearl riding in Newfoundland and Labrador.

President of the Queen’s Privy Council and Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc has won re-election in the riding of Beauséjour in southeastern New Brunswick for the eighth consecutive time.

First elected in 2000, LeBlanc has served as minister of intergovernmental and northern affairs and internal trade, minister of fisheries, oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, and as leader of the government in the House of Commons.

Diane Lebouthillier, the national revenue minister, was re-elected in Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine, as was government House leader Pablo Rodriguez in Honoré-Mercier. Marc Garneau, foreign affairs minister, and Marc Miller, Indigenous services minister, kept their seats as well.

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Chrystia Freeland, deputy prime minister and finance minister, hung on to her seat in the Toronto riding of University—Rosedale.

Longtime Liberal MP Scott Simms lost his seat in Coast of Bays-Central-Notre Dame in Newfoundland and Labrador, as did Lenore Zann in Cumberland-Colchester in Nova Scotia.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 20, 2021.

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This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.