Justin Trudeau's majority greeted with optimism by provincial premiers

After nearly a decade of a prime minister notorious for public tussles with premiers who challenged his policies, Canada's provincial leaders reacted Tuesday to the electoral victory of a Liberal leader who has promised to work harmoniously to advance their interests.

During his time as prime minister, outgoing Prime MinisterStephen Harper was not shy about aggressively engaging premiers who spoke out against his government and displayed an outward contempt for first ministers' meetings.

Perhaps most infamous was his battle with former Newfoundland and Labrador premier and fellow ToryDanny Williams, with whom Harper clashed almost immediately after assuming office in early 2006. At the core of their high-profile spat was Harper's decision to incorporate non-renewable energy resources into the federal equalization formula.

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Williams actively campaigned against Harper during the 2008 federal election, popularizing the "anything but Conservative" slogan thatbecame arallying cry for opposition to the federal Tories.

Williams makes no bones about the fact that he continues to consider Harper a rival to this day.

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More recently, Harper has sparred with Ontario's Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne,particularly over her government's proposed provincial pension plan, which Harper said would amount to tax grab and mean higher taxes for Ontarians.

He has also battled verbally withAlberta Premier Rachel Notley, who led the NDP'svictoriouscharge in a province long considered an unbreachable Tory fortress. Her governmentopposes some energy projects championed by the federal and provincial Conservatives.

Just days after the 42ndfederal election was called, Harper called Notley's government "a disaster."Notley quickly fired back, saying that the people of Alberta had roundly rejected and had "had enough" ofthe Alberta PCs.

On Tuesday, Notleysaid Albertanshad demonstrated "the importance of democracy" by electing JustinTrudeauand the Liberals.

"I look forward to working collaboratively with him to build a strong Alberta within a strong Canada," Notley told reporters.

She listed infrastructure, health care, climate change and buildinga"respectful" relationship withindigenous peoples as key issues they need to work on together.

The surname Trudeau evokes varying reactions in Notley's province, where the energy policies offormer prime minister and Justin's father Pierre ElliottTrudeau enraged voters. Many consideredthe National Energy Programa betrayal of the Canadian West in a bid to appease voters in the East.

Justin Trudeau visited Alberta multiple times on the campaign trail. In the days before the election, he openly acknowledged the unfavourablelegacy of his father in the province, vowing that he wouldn't sell western resources namely oil and gas to buy eastern votes.

Notley's message was largely in line with that of Calgary Mayor NaheedNenshi, who said that his city has prospered under Liberal governments in the past. Nenshi is among the group of big city mayors that includes Toronto's John Tory and Vancouver's Gregor Robertsonwho have repeatedly called for greater support from the federal government for transit and infrastructure projects.

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Wynne, who had Trudeau at her side multiple times during the 2014 Ontario provincial election, held a news conference this morning, telling reporters she's "positive and optimistic"about Trudeau and his pending Liberal cabinet, adding that the Liberal Party's federal majority will be "good for Ontario and good for Canada."

Wynne campaigned hard forTrudeau in her vote-rich province, where the federal Liberals took 80 of the 121 seats up for grabs. Perhaps most importantly, she pushed hard for Trudeau's candidates in the Greater Toronto Area, where the Grits took 49 of the 54 available seats.

She also acknowledged, however, that she may often disagree with Trudeau and promised not to present him with a laundry list of costly requests.

Wynne's message Tuesday was echoed by the Liberal premier of Quebec,Philippe Couillard, who said he's looking forward to working with a federal government with more progressive positions on climate change andhealth-care transfer payments.

The Liberals made considerable gains in Quebec on Monday, taking 40 seats in a province where again his fatherhas a controversial legacy. In 2011, the Grits won just seven seats in the province.

Couillardalso said he thinks a Trudeau government will meet more frequently with thepremiers and could be more likely to support plans for safe injection sites for intravenous drug users in some areas of Montreal.

Part of Trudeau'selection platform was a promise to meet with the premiers within 100 days of taking office, as well as developing a federally supported plan to battle climate change that will be implemented at the provincial level.

New Brunswick Premier Brian Gallantsaid it is about time all of Canada's leaders assemble together. The Liberal addedhe wants to see some of the infrastructure spending promised by Trudeau sent to his province.

"We face as a country and as a province many financial and economic challenges," he said.

"Now is the time to invest to ensure that we are sparking growth, to ensure that we are creating jobs in the short term and to ensure that we will be prosperous in the long term."