There is a sizeable portion of the population that gravitate towards fiscally conservative ideas. Chrétien understood that and, along with Martin, ran a fairly fiscally conservative government, leaving us with a balanced budget. The social conservatives failed to understand that fiscal conservatives don't necessarily agree with social conservatives and when Harper abandoned the former and expanded on the latter, his defeat was inevitable. If the Conservatives learn this, accept this and change, Trudeau will not stand a chance once people see what he has done 4-5 years from now
I agree with you even though you are wrong
But seriously, I don't think it matters what people agree or disagree with, they simply tire of the 'old' government/leader and want change.
There were a lot of Harper's former supporters who still agreed with his policies but turned against him because they didn't like him. And there were a lot who voted Liberal because they liked Trudeau for superficial reasons that had little or nothing to do with fiscal or any other kind of policies.
As for Chretien, his arrogance grew too large over his term in office and he became quite dictatorial and overconfident. I don't imagine he would have believed he would ever be caught in the Sponsorship Scandal and Shawinigate.
The most sensible thing Chretien ever did, imo, was lower the tax on cigarettes. That brought in a lot of revenue for the government by reducing the underground tobacco business during the short time that the reduction in tax remained.