Canada elects Liberal Party, rejecting anti-Muslim rhetoric

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Wednesday 21 Oct 2015 - 11:12 Makkah mean time-8-1-1437 Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Image from Internet Ottawa, (IINA) - Ending nearly a decade-long Conservative rule, Canada's Liberal Party has decisively won general elections, as anti-Muslim rhetoric failed to garner support for the country's outgoing Prime Minister Stephen Harper, according to media reports. This is what positive politics can do. This is what a hopeful vision and platform and team can make happen,” the newly elected Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who is the son of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, told cheering supporters at Liberal headquarters in Montreal’s Queen Elizabeth hotel, The Independent reported on Tuesday. Canadians went to polling stations on Monday in order to vote in the country’s federal election. Over the past few weeks, many headlines focused on how Harper, who heads the Conservative Party, has been under fire for allegedly making anti-Muslim comments. Harper’s anti-Muslim message has centered around his support for banning the niqab, a religious piece of cloth that covers the face along with a hijab, from the Canadian workforce. The Conservative Party nominee also said he would appeal a Canadian court ruling from earlier this year that allowed a Pakistani woman to wear her niqab when she was sworn in as a citizen. These anti-Muslim comments backfired after voters picked 43-year-old Trudeau, whose father was prime minister for more than 15 years in the 1970s and 1980s, to become their second youngest prime minister. Meanwhile, the election of a Liberal government is expected to spell a sea-change in Canadian politics after a decade under the Conservatives. The party’s election promises include ending Canada’s combat mission as part the US-led coalition against ISIS in Iraq and Syria and refocusing military efforts on training local forces and humanitarian efforts. Trudeau has also committed to bringing in 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada and invest $250m into refugee processing. SM/IINA