Election 2021: Here's how the parties fared in B.C.
Polls have now closed across the country in Canada's 44th federal election, with the CTV News Decision Desk projecting a Liberal minority.
With thousands of votes still to be counted in British Columbia, most of the province's 42 ridings have already been called, with the Conservatives taking 13, the Liberals winning 13, the NDP winning 12 and the Greens winning one. Three seats were still too close to call as of 11 p.m.
Among the victorious New Democrats was party leader Jagmeet Singh, who held his Burnaby South riding.
In a speech to supporters at the Vancouver Convention Centre, Singh promised to continue fighting.
"I want to let Canadians know that you can count on the New Democrats to continue fighting for you," Singh said. "We are going to continue fighting for you just the same way we fought for you during the pandemic."
Former Green Party leader Elizabeth May was re-elected in her Saanich-Gulf Islands riding, but Green incumbent Paul Manly was trailing in Nanaimo-Ladysmith as of 10:15 p.m.
At that time, only two of the victorious candidates were from a party that wasn't the incumbent party in the riding.
The CTV News Decision Desk has declared Liberal Parm Bains the winner of Steveston-Richmond East, defeating Conservative incumbent Kenny Chiu.
In Port Moody-Coquitlam, NDP candidate Bonita Zarrillo unseated incumbent Conservative MP Nelly Shin.
Zarrillo, a business analyst and three-term Coquitlam city councillor, also ran against Shin in the last election, when only 1,160 votes separated the first-place Conservatives from the third-place Liberals.
Other battleground ridings were called for the incumbent party, with Liberal Terry Beech holding onto his Burnaby North-Seymour riding, which has been the site of protests over the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion project for years.
Beech famously bucked his party in 2017 by voting against the pipeline.
Results in B.C. will go a long way toward determining the size of the Liberals' minority government caucus.
At dissolution, B.C. had 17 Conservative MPs, 11 Liberals, 11 New Democrats, two Greens and one Independent: former Liberal cabinet minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, who did not seek re-election.
Liberal leader Justin Trudeau gambled that a pandemic election would restore his party to a majority government, as it had after the 2015 election. That gamble ultimately failed to pay off, with the Liberals returned to Parliament with a similar minority.
The party's platform includes $78 billion in new spending over the next five years, much of it going to Canada's post-pandemic recovery. There's also $2 billion promised towards Indigenous reconciliation efforts, a climate plan that aims to bring the oil and gas sector to net-zero emissions by 2050, and a housing affordability plan that includes a ban on new foreign ownership for two years.
With another minority Parliament on the way, the Liberals' ability to implement that platform will rely on them finding support from other parties. A comparison of all the parties' platforms can be found here.
The COVID-19 pandemic loomed large over the 36-day campaign. When Trudeau called the election, he argued that Canadians deserved a chance to weigh in on how the country would "finish the fight against COVID-19."
Opposition parties slammed the Liberal leader for calling an election they felt was unnecessary, and the election itself became a key issue throughout the campaign.
As time went on, polls showed a tight race, with the Liberals and Conservatives deadlocked at just above 30 per cent support in the final poll by Nanos Research for CTV News and the Globe and Mail.
Support for smaller parties diverged over the course of the campaign, with support for the Green Party declining and the People's Party of Canada gaining ground.
The NDP was at 17.5 per cent support in the final Nanos poll, with the Bloc Quebecois at 7.5 per cent, the PPC at 6.6 and the Greens at 4.5.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
NDP motion regarding Palestinian statehood passes after major Liberal alterations
A motion from the federal New Democrats initially calling on Canada to recognize the 'State of Palestine' passed amid widespread acrimony on Monday, after the Liberals drastically altered its wording to see the government simply work towards that aim as part of a two-state solution.
'He didn't want to die': Family of Calgary man killed in standoff speaks out
Family of a Calgary man killed after a 30-hour standoff with police last week are speaking out, sharing details of the tense and heart-wrenching experience.
Toronto family doctor who called patient's body 'perfect' suspended for 3 months: tribunal
A family doctor in Toronto has been suspended for three months after a disciplinary tribunal found that he failed to follow proper protocols while examining a patient's breasts and made inappropriate comments about her body.
Ohio mom who left toddler alone 10 days when she went on vacation pleads guilty to aggravated murder
An Ohio mother whose 16-month-old daughter died after being left home alone in a playpen for 10 days last summer while she went on vacation was sentenced Monday to life in prison with no chance of parole.
Retired teacher pleads guilty to paying for sex with 15-year-old in Collingwood, Ont.
In a Barrie courtroom on Monday, a retired high school teacher from the Niagara Region pleaded guilty to sexual touching and obtaining sexual services from a 15-year-old boy in Collingwood in 2021.
Hertz CEO out following electric car 'horror show'
The company, which announced in January it was selling 20,000 of the electric vehicles in its fleet, or about a third of the EVs it owned, is now replacing the CEO who helped build up that fleet, giving it the company’s fifth boss in just four years.
5 charged in Calgary kidnappings that targeted women
Calgary police have charged five men in a pair of kidnappings last year that targeted innocent victims.
Demand soars for solar eclipse glasses in Canada. Are they worth buying?
The demand for total solar eclipse glasses used to safely view the rare celestial event has been ramping up as sellers, along with astronomy and eye-care experts in Canada, warn that viewing the eclipse with the naked eye is dangerous.
Canadian commander of volunteer fighter group dies in Ukraine
A Canadian-born commander of the so-called Norman Brigade, a volunteer fighting group in Ukraine, has died.