Canadians have elected a Liberal minority government.
The Liberals, led by Justin Trudeau, will head back to parliament for a second consecutive term as the governing party, although they’ll need to negotiate support from at least one other party in order to pass any legislation while they are in office.
READ MORE: Real-time results in the federal election
Neither the Liberals nor Conservatives hit the 170-seat threshold needed for a majority government as polls were counted Monday night.
But the Liberals did win a plurality of seats in the House of Commons.
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Trudeau has also held on to his Montreal-area seat of Papineau while Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer defended his Regina-Qu’Appelle riding and Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet unseated NDP incumbent Matthew Dube in the Quebec riding of Beloeil-Chambly.
WATCH: The role Quebec plays in Canada’s federal elections
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh’s party sank to fourth place behind the Bloc Quebecois but he won his Burnaby South seat while Green party Leader Elizabeth May also kept her Saanich-Gulf Islands riding.
People’s Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier lost his seat in Beauce, Que., to Conservative candidate Richard Lehoux.
Trudeau gave what can best be described as a victory speech in terms of tone but in it, insisted that his party has won a “clear mandate” from Canadians despite losing roughly 20 seats compared to his 2015 results and now being reliant on another party if they want to get anything done.
While the Liberals had previously held 177 seats, Trudeau now holds 156 seats and will not be able to pass any legislation without getting at least one other party on board to support their bills. The Conservatives, on the other hand, picked up 23 seats to sit at 122 and the Bloc Quebecois roughly tripled their showing in Quebec to 32 seats.
Trudeau, however, walked onto stage after Scheer had begun his own speech and began giving his own, which did not acknowledge some of the major hits the Liberals took in the form of the defeat of veterans like Ralph Goodale, who has served as public safety minister, or the wipe-out of his party’s four seats in Alberta.
READ MORE: Scheer delivers concession speech, praises Tory election performance
“To my fellow Canadians it has been the greatest honour of my life to serve you for these past four years and tonight you are sending us back to work for you,” Trudeau said.
“We take this responsibility seriously and we will work hard for you and your families … to those who did not vote for us know that we will work every single day for you, we will govern for everyone. Regardless of how you cast your ballot ours is a team that will fight for all Canadians.”
Scheer in his own speech said he had congratulated Trudeau on winning the most seats but cast the reduction in Liberal seats as a rebuke from voters to Trudeau, warning that Conservatives will be focused on taking him on next time.
“Mr. Trudeau, when your government falls, Conservatives will be ready and we will win,” he said.
“This is how it starts. This is the first step.”
Singh also said he had congratulated Trudeau and all eyes will now be on both him and on Blanchet for how they could plan on working with the Liberals in a minority government.
Overall, the results showed stark divides across the country with the Liberals locked out of Alberta entirely and keeping only a scant handful of seats in the Prairies, while cracks emerged in the Liberal hold on Atlantic Canada after sweeping that region in 2015.
In Ontario and Quebec, a strong number of Liberal cabinet ministers kept their seats but the resurgence of the Bloc Quebecois appears to have eaten into the strength of the Liberal vote in Quebec while the Conservatives suffered a major upset in Ontario in the defeat of party veteran Lisa Raitt to her Liberal challenger.
The Greens also won a historic three seats, keeping two that they already held on Vancouver Island and picking up an additional seat in New Brunswick.
Meanwhile in B.C., the big story is the victory of former Liberal attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould as an Independent in Vancouver Granville.
Voters in Atlantic Canada gave the Liberals a slight early lead as the first poll results began rolling in on Monday night.
Of those Atlantic Liberals, the cabinet ministers who have held onto their seats are Dominic LeBlanc, Seamus O’Regan, Bernadette Jordan, Ginette Petitpas Taylor and Lawrence MacAulay. Geoff Regan, who was Speaker of the House of Commons most recently, and long-time Liberal Wayne Easter also retained their seats.
Liberal backbenchers Scott Simms, Gudie Hutchings, Ken McDonald, René Arseneault, Bobby Morrissey, Andy Fillmore and Serge Cormier also secured their seats, as did Darrell Sampson, Darren Fisher, Sean Fraser, Sean Casey and Churence Rogers.
Rookie Liberal candidate Kody Blois also held on to the Kings-Hants seat vacated by former cabinet minister Scott Brison earlier this year.
Several Conservatives managed to chip away at the Liberal hold on Atlantic Canada, though, with three formerly red seats swinging blue.
Conservative Richard Bragdon won the riding of Tobique–Mactaquac from incumbent Liberal T.J. Harvey. John Williamson also won the riding of New Brunswick Southwest from Liberal incumbent Karen Ludwig.
Conservative Rob Moore also won the New Brunswick seat of Fundy Royal from Liberal Alaina Lockhart, who was among the crop of first-time MPs swept into office in 2015.
But the comeback story of the night so far is that of the NDP’s Jack Harris, who will be returning to Ottawa.
Harris had been a longtime NDP MP for the Newfoundland riding of St. John’s East before he lost to Liberal Nick Whelan in 2015.
The Green Party also won a surprise upset in Fredericton, N.B., taking that seat away from the incumbent Liberals.
Quebec sees Bloc surge as Liberals secure hold in Ontario
Results in Quebec also hinted at early signs of strong showing by the Bloc Quebecois, with that party taking 20 seats so far in the province.
READ MORE: Bloc Québécois rises to prominence as it more than doubles seats in Parliament
Several Liberal cabinet ministers from Quebec have kept their seats: Marc Garneau, Melanie Joly and David Lametti held onto their Montreal-area seats, while Jean-Yves Duclos kept his Quebec City seat in what had been predicted to be a close race.
Pablo Rodriguez, who served as minister of Canadian heritage in the last government, also kept his seat, as did longtime Liberal Francis Scarpaleggia.
Francois-Philippe Champagne, who was infrastructure minister, kept his Saint-Maurice—Champlain riding too.
Prominent Conservatives in that province who also kept their seats include Gérard Deltell, Pierre Paul-Hus, Alain Rayes, Luc Berthold and Steven Blaney.
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In Ontario, the big upset of the night came in Milton, where Lisa Raitt, who had represented the riding for 11 years, lost her seat to Liberal challenger and four-time Olympian Adam van Koeverden.
READ MORE: The Liberals dominated many battleground Greater Toronto Area ridings
Kirsty Duncan was the first of the Liberal cabinet ministers from that province to secure her Toronto-area seat, as did Chrystia Freeland, Bill Blair, Bill Morneau, Mary Ng, Carolyn Bennett and Navdeep Bains.
Bardish Chagger and Ahmed Hussen also held onto their seats while Jane Philpott, who had been a rising star in the Liberal government until she quit cabinet in protest amid the SNC-Lavalin scandal and was subsequently ejected from caucus by Trudeau, lost her Markham-Stouffville seat to the Liberal challenger.
READ MORE: Independent Jane Philpott concedes defeat in Markham-Stouffville
Maverick Liberal Nathaniel Erskine-Smith also kept his downtown Toronto seat in Beaches-East York while Patty Hajdu, who served as a cabinet minister in the last government, held on to her Thunder Bay-Superior North seat.
NDP veteran Charlie Angus holds on to his Timmins-James Bay riding in Northern Ontario.
Conservatives Scott Reid, Cheryl Gallant and Michael Barrett kept their Eastern Ontario ridings.
Closer to Ottawa, Liberal Mona Fortier held on to the historically safe seat of Ottawa-Vanier, while David McGuinty kept his seat of Ottawa South and Anita Vandenbeld maintained Ottawa West-Nepean.
Marie-France Lalonde kept the riding of Orleans in Liberal hands after quitting her role as MPP for that same riding provincially last month.
Catherine McKenna, who served as environment minister in the last government, also held on to her Ottawa Centre riding.
Conservatives see strong showing so far in Prairies
Large swathes of the Prairies are seeing a strong Conservative showing, with the party largely sweeping Alberta so far and many parts of Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Of the Conservatives in the West, James Bezan was the first to secure his Manitoba riding of Selkirk-Interlake-Eastman.
The major upset in Saskatchewan came in the defeat of veteran Liberal cabinet minister Ralph Goodale, who had represented Regina-Wascana for 26 years.
Conservative challenger Michael Kram will now represent that riding.
READ MORE: Saskatchewan’s lone Liberal MP, Ralph Goodale, loses re-election bid in Regina-Wascana
Conservative Candice Bergan also kept her Manitoba seat while incumbent Conservatives Larry Maguire, Dan Mazier, Robert Kitchen, Glen Motz, Ted Falk, Cathay Wagantall, John Barlow and Arnold Viersen also kept theirs in that province and in Alberta and Saskatchewan.
The Liberals were locked out of Wild Rose country entirely, losing their Edmonton Centre seat held by Randy Boissonnault as well as Edmonton Mill Woods, which had been held by Amarjeet Sohi, who served as natural resources minister.
They also lost Calgary Centre, which had been held by Kent Hehr, as well as Calgary Skyview, which had been held by Darshan Kang before he was kicked out of the Liberal caucus to sit as an Independent.
Prominent Conservative Michelle Rempel kept her seat in Calgary Nose Hill.
READ MORE: Conservative Tim Uppal wins Edmonton Mill Woods seat, booting Liberal Amarjeet Sohi
Conservatives Shannon Stubbs, Rachael Harder, Mike Lake, Stephanie Kusie, Michael Cooper, Garnett Genuis and Chris Warkentin are also among the incumbents who held on to their Alberta seats, while Bob Zimmer and Todd Doherty maintained their B.C. seats.
READ MORE: Conservative Greg McLean beats out longtime Liberal Kent Hehr in Calgary Centre
So far, Kevin Lamoureux, Dan Vandal and Jim Carr are the only Liberals to win seats in the Prairies.
Lamoureux represents Winnipeg North while Carr, who served as a cabinet minister in the last government, held on to Winnipeg South Centre.
Vandal maintained his Manitoba seat of Saint Boniface-Saint Vital.
The NDP’s Niki Ashton also held on to her Manitoba riding of Churchill-Keewatinook Aski as did Daniel Blaikie in Elmwood-Transcona.
The NDP has also kept two seats in B.C. so far: Skeena-Bulkley Valley, which had been represented by long-time NDP MP Nathan Cullen until he announced earlier this year he would not run again, will be held now by Taylor Bachrach, while Jenny Kwan keeps her Vancouver East seat.
READ MORE: Jody Wilson-Raybould wins re-election as Independent in Vancouver Granville over Liberals
But the major headline out of B.C. was the victory of former Liberal attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould as an Independent candidate.
Wilson-Raybould was removed from her role as attorney general earlier this year and later quit cabinet entirely before being ejected from Trudeau for her role in raising red flags about the SNC-Lavalin scandal during explosive testimony before the House of Commons justice committee.
It has been decades since any federal candidate won a seat as an Independent.
Harjit Sajjan, who served as Liberal defence minister, kept his seat in Vancouver South while Joyce Murray, who has served as president of the Treasury Board, also kept Vancouver Quadra for the party and Jonathan Wilkinson, the minister of fisheries, maintained his seat in North Vancouver.
— With files from Beatrice Britneff
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