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Who would have expected this to happen in Quebec(!) of all places. Justin Trudeau’s party experienced a sea change in electoral politics that saw them lose massively to the conservative nationalists in the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) party.

This election saw CAQ snatch 74 seats, soundly defeating the previous majority seat holders, the “centrist” Liberal party. The Liberal party ended up only winning 32 seats and 24% of the vote, having dropped from 68 seats and over 40% of the vote after the results of the 2014 election. The Liberals have been behind the nationalization of many industries in the country, while considered as a nominally “centrist” party in Canada they would be classified close to the extreme left in the United States. Many in their leadership in Quebec were originally part of the leftist dominated Progressive Conservative Party of Canada.

The secessionist party, Parti Québécois, also lost so much steam that it has lost its status as an official party in the province of Quebec. They now have 9 seats in the National Assembly. They were sabotaged by a rival leftist and strong environmentalist party, Québec Solidaire, which won 10 seats.

Before the election was called, the Liberals held 68 seats, the PQ held 28, the CAQ 21 and Québec Solidaire​ three, along with five independents in the province’s 125-seat National Assembly.