Dear Editor,

When you have a weak Opposition candidate the incumbent will always win. With all the corruption, mistake and blackface controversy thrown at Justin Trudeau he was re-elected as prime minister of Canada, even though he lost the popular vote and will be leading a minority Government.

He was not expected to win, if the Conservatives had a better candidate than the uninspiring Andrew Scheer they would’ve stood a better chance.

I say that to make the point that no matter the talks of corruption against the Andrew Holness Administration, he is highly likely to be re-elected because Peter Phillips is weak, and the People’s National Party just isn’t an alternative.

If the Premier of Alberta Jason Kennedy was the Conservative Party leader he would’ve beaten Justin Trudeau. Also, even Maxime Bernier, the Donald Trump of Canada and the former de facto leader of the Conservative Party post-Stephen Harper, is more uninspiring than Andrew Scheer, who only defeated by Bernier in the Conservative Party leadership race of 2017 by under one percentage point. He left the Conservative Party because he said the party is becoming too liberal, like the Liberal Party of Canada. He then formed his own party — a right wing populist party called the People’s Party of Canada. Also, Canada is the most liberal country in the world, so being tough on immigration is a no-no. Scheer being against same-sex marriage and abortion is just a no-no.

Clearly, Justin Trudeau was not as popular this time around. He only got 157 seats, compared to 184 seats in 2015. According to preliminary results he only got 5.91 million votes compared to 6.94 million votes in 2015. Even though Andrew Scheer won the popular vote and increased the party’s margin from 2015, that just ain’t enough. He got 121 seats compared to Stephen Harper’s 99 in 2015. According to preliminary results, he got 6.15 million votes compared to Stephen Harper’s 5.61 million votes in 2015. Also, some would add Maxime Bernier’s 292,000 votes to Scheer.

Historically, minority administrations in Canada do not last over two years, so clearly Prime Minister Trudeau and the liberals can’t gloat over this victory.

Coming back to Jamaica, the corruption controversies in which Prime Minister Holness has been embroiled, like Justin Trudeau, may have no bearing on his election win. In any event, Andrew Holness is in better standing than Justin Trudeau.

Teddylee Gray

Ocho Rios, St Ann

teddylee.gray@gmail.com