NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is headed back to Ottawa, after being re-elected in Burnaby South in the 2021 federal election, Global News projects.
Liberal Brea Huang Sami placed second and Conservative Party’s Likky Lavji finished third.
“You can count on New Democrats to keep fighting for you — as we fought for you in the pandemic, when times were hard and people were struggling, when people were worried about their future, we were there for you,” Singh told supporters Monday night.
“We are going to keep fighting to make sure the super-wealthy pay their fair share, that the billionaires pay their fair share, so the burden doesn’t fall on you and your families.”
While the final seat count had yet to be settled, the NDP will hold the balance of power in Canada’s new Liberal minority government.
Singh made it clear he would use that position to press for progress on Pharmacare, dental coverage, affordable housing and Indigenous issues.
He spent less time in British Columbia during this campaign than in 2019, when he dedicated a full two weeks of cumulative time to the province.
He did opt to wrap his campaign with a full-day blitz in the Lower Mainland on Sunday.
One area that did attract the leader’s attention, with visits in both July and August, was the riding of Nanaimo-Ladysmith, where the party hoped to unseat Paul Manly — one of the Green Party’s only two MPs at dissolution.
As of 9:30 p.m. Monday, that riding remained a tight three-way race, with the NDP and Conservative candidates trading the lead.
Earlier this month, Singh was forced to apologize to the B.C. Assembly of First Nations after missing an invitation to address the group.
This marks Singh’s third victory in the riding, after a general election and byelection win both in 2019.
Singh, a former Ontario MPP, moved to B.C. to run in the byelection.
The riding has long been fertile NDP territory and was previously held by current Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart.
It was created in the 2012 redistricting, drawn from Burnaby-Douglas and Burnaby-New Westminster, both of which have voted NDP for decades.
You can find full results for the election here, and find your riding here.