Vote 2021: Day 37

MONTREAL-- Thirty-six days after his fateful decision to send Canadians to the polls, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberals were poised to secure the most seats in the 2021 federal election but fall short of their coveted majority.

The Canadian Press forecasted that the Liberals were leading in 156 ridings, the Conservatives in 121, the Bloc Quebecois in 32, the NDP in 27 and the Greens in two.

The Liberals enjoyed a healthy lead Monday night as poll results poured in across the country, with the party forging a path to victory via near sweeps of the greater Toronto and Montreal areas, which together landed them more than 60 seats.

On top of about a dozen seats in the Vancouver area, the Liberals looked likely to regain a beachhead in Alberta, leading a riding in Calgary and another in Edmonton that was too close to call.

The party was shut out of Alberta and Saskatchewan in the 2019 election.

Trudeau won his Montreal riding of Papineau, which he nabbed from the Bloc Quebecois in 2008 and has retained since.

At Liberal election night headquarters in downtown Montreal, the hotel ballroom remained devoid of supporters even after the general outcome was called. Supporters began to trickle in shortly after midnight, uttering their first cheers at 12:39 a.m., followed by a half-hearted "Hip hip hooray."

Trudeau spent the past few days barnstorming the country -- hitting four provinces on Sunday alone -- and delivering his final whirlwind pitch to Canadians.

Over the weekend, the eight-year leader marketed his party as the only one that could stop Erin O'Toole's Conservatives from forming government. He has dug in against the top Tory on vaccine mandates, gun control, climate change and daycare, leaning on the Liberal record on pandemic management and economic stimulus.

After travelling back to Quebec from Vancouver on a red-eye flight, Trudeau cast his ballot Monday in his Montreal riding of Papineau, with his three children at his side and Canada's 44th election on the edge of completion.

-The Canadian Press

VANCOUVER -- The NDP have gained seats in Monday's federal election with Leader Jagmeet Singh pledging to continue to fight for Canadians in a Liberal minority government.

“I want to let Canadians know you can count on New Democrats to keep fighting for you,” Singh said at the Vancouver Convention Centre.

In a speech that echoed his messaging throughout the campaign, Singh promised to prioritize pharmacare, dental care, Indigenous issues and making the rich pay their fair share.

The NDP had 24 seats in the House of Commons at dissolution and were leading in three more in tight races that went late into the night.

“We will have a stronger and larger caucus,” said Anne McGrath, the national director of the NDP.

The addition to caucus will keep them playing an outsized role in a minority Parliament. But the party was unable to make significant gains in Quebec or downtown Toronto.

The Bloc Quebecois kept the Berthier—Maskinongé riding where former NDP member of Parliament Ruth Ellen Brosseau was hoping to make a comeback after losing in 2019. In British Columbia, the NDP took the swing riding Port Moody-Coquitlam from the Conservatives. They were also hoping to take Jody Wilson-Raybould's former Vancouver Granville seat, where the NDP and Liberals were neck and neck early Tuesday morning.

Singh won his own riding in Burnaby South in a fairly tight race with Liberal Brea Huang Sami.

St. John's East, the New Democrats' only seat in the Atlantic, fell to Liberal Joanne Thompson. It was formerly held by Jack Harris, who retired from politics with the onset of the election. He was replaced by candidate Mary Shortall, a veteran labour leader.

-The Canadian Press

The Bloc Quebecois, who began the campaign with 32 seats, were elected in 29 ridings and leading in another three.

Speaking to a couple dozen supporters in Montreal, leader Yves-François Blanchet, said the election, “called by a minority government that was ambitious, despite the pandemic,” has left Canada “with the same minority government.”

Blanchet said there was little to say about a result that had essentially restored the status quo.

“The percentage is almost the same, the number of seats is almost the same,” he said, adding that he would speak with the leaders of the other parties in an effort to ensure Parliament works effectively during the ongoing pandemic.

The Bloc had appeared to receive an unexpected boost during the English-language leaders debate when the moderator asked Blanchet a question that described two Quebec laws as “discriminatory,” leading to widespread criticism in the province.

However, its impact was muted as Blanchet fell well short of his dream of winning 40 of the province's 78 seats.

-The Canadian Press

OSHAWA, Ont. -- After an election result that showed him unable to make gains he sought in key battlegrounds, Erin O'Toole committed to staying on as Conservative leader and preparing to fight whenever the next election is called.

In the wee hours of Tuesday, the Conservatives were leading or elected in 121 seats, exactly the same as after the 2019 federal election, while the Liberals had secured another minority.

O'Toole, 48, told the crowd of mainly campaign supporters gathered at an arena in Oshawa, Ont., that Canadians denied the majority Trudeau wanted, saying the prime minister would use his new minority mandate to plunge the country into “18 months of perpetual campaigning.”

When that happens, O'Toole said, he will be ready to lead Canada's Conservatives.

O'Toole said the party showed it had the courage to grow, but clearly it needed to do more and would begin by looking at what worked and what didn't.

“I told conservatives that our party needed the courage to change because Canada has changed,” he said in a speech that said all Canadians, no matter their background, are welcome in his party.

“Above all else, it is a conservatism that believes Canada is the greatest country on Earth, and that our best days are on the horizon.”

During the election campaign, he also tried to convince voters his “renewed” party wasn't their “Dad's” or “grandfather's” Conservative party. O'Toole told voters he was a proponent of reproductive and LGBTQ rights, and he introduced carbon-pricing and worker-friendly policies.

Questions remain about whether the Tory leader who bet that putting a centrist image on the party would win it more seats will be able to convince the grassroots to let him try again. Strategists say what comes next for O'Toole, who faced criticism from within his party for moving it from the right to the political centre, will depend on whether the Tories win the popular vote or whether he can show members he's made gains.

-The Canadian Press

TORONTO -- Green Leader Annamie Paul has lost her third bid for a seat in Toronto Centre as early results show the party leading in two other ridings.

Paul had seen a swell of support in last year's byelection, when she drew 33 per cent of the vote and came in second behind Liberal Marci Ien.

But that support appeared to deflate today, with Paul appearing to finish fourth. Toronto Centre is considered a Liberal stronghold, and the federal Greens have yet to elect a candidate in Ontario.

Early results show the party appearing to pull ahead in Kitchener Centre and Saanich-Gulf Islands.

Paul acknowledged during the campaign that infighting within Green ranks -- which included a failed attempt to oust her weeks before the election was called -- has helped erode the party's support at the polls.

The party requires a vote on the leader within six months of an election, making Paul's position even more precarious following tonight's vote.

-The Canadian Press

OTTAWA -- The People's Party of Canada, led by outspoken Maxime Bernier, could not turn the burgeoning support of disgruntled voters into a win at the ballot box on election night.

But Bernier, who was handily defeated in his Quebec riding, told a crowd at a Saskatoon hotel he would continue to fight for the freedoms of Canadians in the street, beyond the halls of Parliament.

“My friends, this is not just a political party. It is a movement. It is an ideological revolution that we are starting now,” said a seemingly undaunted Bernier. “Canadians who oppose the rise of tyranny and authoritarian government need a voice. We are going to be that voice.”

During the campaign, Bernier attracted the support of disaffected Conservatives, right-wing ideologues and people who oppose COVID-19 vaccinations and lockdowns.

Opinion polls had consistently shown party support hovering at five per cent or higher in recent weeks, even though Bernier was excluded from national leaders' debates.

Just before midnight ET, the People's Party had 5.2 per cent of the national vote, easily outstripping the Green Party. But it wasn't enough to capture a seat in the House of Commons.

Bernier was a prominent member of Stephen Harper's Conservative government, serving as minister in the industry and foreign-affairs portfolios. He left the Conservatives in August 2018, saying the party had all but abandoned its core principles. Soon after, the People's Party was born.

Bernier failed to win his Quebec riding of Beauce under the People's Party banner in 2019. But the loss did not deter him, and he fanned the flames of frustration with the COVID-19 pandemic to build support.

-The Canadian Press