Chretien carries the day

OTTAWA, NOV. 28. Mr. Jean Chretien won a bold gamble on Monday, becoming the first Canadian Prime Minister to win a third consecutive majority government since World War II.

Defying forecasters, Mr. Chretien's Liberals swept Ontario and picked up several seats in Quebec, reducing the parliamentary delegation of the separatist Bloc Quebecois.

``Tonight the people of Canada renewed their confidence in our programme, our government and our leadership,'' Mr. Chretien (66), told supporters. Apparently ruling out any early retirement, he shouted, ``I guarantee the next five years will be very exciting for Canada.'' Mr. Chretien, who became Prime Minister in 1993, won his 12th election for Parliament.

``For the Prime Minister, it's a three-peat!'' Mr. Allan Rock, Health Minister and Ontario Member of Parliament, exclaimed at a victory party. ``We have got a third majority government.'' Preliminary returns indicated that the Liberals had added 11 seats, bringing their delegation to 172, comfortably above the 151 needed for a majority.

Under Canada's parliamentary system, a majority vastly strengthens powers of the Prime Minister, allowing him great authority to pass legislation.

Surprising pollsters, the Quebec separatists lost seven seats, almost all to the Liberals.

``This is the first time since 1980 that the Liberal Party has obtained the majority of votes in Quebec, and this is important,'' said Mr. Chretien, a native Quebecer, clearly seeing the returns as a personal vindication of his national unity policies.

The 36-day campaign started when the Prime Minister, encouraged by a strong economy and good polling numbers, and a wave of nostalgia after the death of the former Prime Minister, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, decided to call a snap election, only 3 1/2 years into his second five-year mandate.

The Liberals won about 41 per cent of the popular vote, a slight improvement over their 1997 showing. The Canadian Alliance won about 25 per cent.

Though the Alliance appeared to increase its parliamentary delegation by nine seats, to 67, the election was seen as a setback for the party, which was formed earlier this year expressly to unite the right and to win seats in Ontario. The Alliance did win two Ontario seats, both near this capital, but the Liberals swept 100 of the province's 103 seats.

``The message to us is not yet, not this time,'' the alliance leader, Mr. Stockwell Day, said in British Columbia, adding that he had called Mr. Chretien to congratulate him on his victory. ``We have increased our seats and we are the only party that has increased our popular vote in every part of the country. We are the federal alternative.''

- New York Times

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