Expect the re-elected Liberals to be more liberal in spending on social programs and health, says prime minister Jean ChrŽtien.
After losing more than 20 seats to Maritime rage over program cuts, he said the Liberals will be running budget surpluses in two years and then will be able to reinvest in programs they have cut.
“We will be in a position to do things differently,” said the prime minister, who presided over billions of dollars in cuts to health, welfare and social spending.
And expect the Liberals to pay more attention to western issues in an attempt to win back voters who turned to the Reform party, he told a June 4 news conference after he returned to Ottawa to begin a second term as prime minister.
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“We have to build in the West,” he said. “The trend of voting Liberal in the West is not very strong.”
ChrŽtien planned to unveil his new cabinet June 11 and call Parliament into session in mid-September.
After calling an early election and putting his strong majority on the line, he returned to Ottawa with a slim majority of 155 in a Commons of 301.
The Liberals were sent back to Ottawa with 22 seats fewer than they won in 1993.
The biggest losses came in the Maritimes, where voters in more than 20 formerly Liberal seats rejected the party over cuts to programs such as employment insurance.
In the West, there also were significant losses. The Liberals held their own in British Columbia, lost all but one of their four seats in Alberta, all but one of their five seats in Saskatchewan and six of their 12 seats in Manitoba.
ChrŽtien told reporters he thought western voters turned on the Liberals and swarmed to Reform mainly in order to ensure the Bloc QuŽbecois did not become official opposition again.
He said there also is a deep-rooted right-wing tradition in the West and some westerners responded to Reform’s arguments against distinct society status for Quebec.
