The Canadian Liberal Party won the federal election held in the North American country on 19 October 2015. Justin Trudeau – leader of the party, which sits at the centre of the local political spectrum – will therefore be called upon to form a new government, taking the place of the Conservative Stephen Harper, who has been in power for nearly a decade.

The results were announced around 11 pm local time (the early hours of the morning in Italy): the centrist party secured an absolute majority in the House of Commons, with more than 40 per cent of the vote. The party can therefore count on more than 170 seats in the Canadian parliament, out of a total of 338. The Conservatives, meanwhile, stalled at around 30 per cent: Harper, speaking from his "stronghold" of Calgary, conceded defeat and tendered his resignation as leader of his party.

The result was more modest for the social-democratic NDP, led by Thomas Mulcair. After the surge in votes recorded in 2011 (when the party emerged from the polls with 103 seats), Canada's left finds itself the country's third political force, with fewer than 40 seats.

Trudeau – 43 years old, son of former prime minister Pierre Elliott – ran a particularly moderate election campaign, focusing above all on a proposal to cut taxes on the middle class (funded by an increase in taxation on the wealthiest segments of the population). Also prominent in his programme is the decision – shared with the NDP – to adopt welcoming policies for Syrian migrants pushing at Europe's borders. Trudeau's Canada should therefore distance itself markedly from Harper's policies, which instead proposed to "solve the problem at the root," namely to continue the air war against the Islamic State group: under the Liberals, Canada's military contribution is expected to be limited to logistical support for Iraqi and Kurdish forces.

On environmental matters, however, the new government's actions will need to be tested in practice. Harper, as is well known, has shown little inclination towards climate protection policies: on the contrary, he has placed enormous emphasis on oil extracted from tar sands, considered devastating from an environmental standpoint. Closely tied to this activity is the construction of the vast Keystone XL pipeline, which is set to start from the province of Alberta and reach the southern United States. The project is championed by Republicans in Washington, but perhaps Ottawa may no longer consider it a priority.