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Justin Trudeau's Victory Ushers New Era Of 'Sunny Ways'

"I didn’t make history tonight. You did."

"Sunny ways, my friends. Sunny ways," Justin Trudeau said to a crowd of party faithful on Monday.

"This is what positive politics can do."

The Liberal leader stuck close to the optimistic messaging his campaign aligned itself with and marked a new era for Canada in a victory speech at the party’s election night headquarters at a luxury hotel in downtown Montreal.

Trudeau, the eldest son of late former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, will become Canada’s 23rd prime minister, capping an end to Conservative Leader Stephen Harper’s nearly decade-long term in office.

"You built this platform. You built this movement," said Trudeau to a lively room of supporters. He focused on the crowd for most of his speech.

Trudeau said he received calls from other party leaders, gave thanks to Harper for his service as prime minister, and offered a message of political unity.

"Conservatives are not our enemies," he said. "They’re our neighbours. Leadership is about bring people of all different perspectives together."

Trudeau also thanked NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair for a "vigorous campaign," saying he "fought right up to the end."

To his three children, he told them their lives would change, but added "dad will be there for you."

The Liberals catapulted their seat count from 34 to 184, ousting the Conservatives from power and devastating to the NDP. That party lost its opposition party status, slicing its seat count from 95 to 44.

Harper’s Conservatives finished the night with 99 seats, 54 less than what the party had heading into the election.

Trudeau was not a front-runner when the Liberals entered the 78-day campaign. Monday’s landslide victory also marks the first time a third-place party has been elected to power in 90 years.

He closed his speech with a line he repeated at a previous leaders’ debate, telling the crowd their fellow citizens "are kind and generous."

"They are open-minded and optimistic," he continued. "And they know in their hearts of hearts that a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian."

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