Early Takeaways From Canada’s Election

(L–R) Liberal Leader Mark Carney, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre before the French-language federal leaders’ debate in Montreal on April 16, 2025. The Canadian Press/Christopher Katsarov

The Liberals under Prime Minister Mark Carney held on to power after the April 28 election, winning a fourth consecutive term.

While votes are still being counted and the results aren’t final, there are some notable takeaways from the early results.

NDP Loses Official Party Status, Singh Resigns

In the election, the NDP won or was leading in seven ridings as of 6 a.m., a decrease of 18 seats for the party compared to the 2021 election.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh participates in the French-language federal leaders' debate in Montreal on April 16, 2025. The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick

In order to qualify for official party status, a party needs to hold at least 12 seats, a requirement that the NDP no longer meets.

Meanwhile, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh came in third in his own riding of Burnaby Central in B.C.

In an emotional speech after the election, Singh said he would step down once the party chooses an interim leader.

Singh, a former Ontario NDP MPP, was elected leader of the federal NDP in 2017 and became a federal MP representing a B.C. riding in 2019.

Poilievre Projected to Lose Seat

As of 6 a.m. EDT on April 29, with 99 percent of polls reporting in Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s Ottawa riding of Carleton, Liberal candidate Bruce Fanjoy appeared to be winning with 42,374 votes, or 50.6 percent of the votes. Poilievre had 38,581 votes, or 46.1 percent of the votes. Poilievre has represented the riding since 2004.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre speaks to his supporters alongside his wife, Anaida Poilievre, after the April 28 federal election, in Ottawa on April 29, 2025. Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images

The vote in Carleton is taking longer because an activist group seeking electoral reform, the Longest Ballot Committee, targeted Poilievre’s riding by flooding it with dozens of candidates to raise awareness about its cause.

Poilievre said in his post-election speech that he will stay on as leader, celebrating the gains his party made in seat counts and in the share of the national vote.

Carney, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet, and Green Party Co-leader Elizabeth May all won in their own ridings. Meanwhile, Green Party Co-leader Jonathan Pedneault and People’s Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier lost in their Quebec ridings.

Health Minister Loses Seat

Preliminary results show Liberal Health Minister Kamal Khera narrowly losing in her riding of Brampton West in Ontario, getting 47.5 percent of the vote, compared to Conservative candidate Amarjeet Gill, who won the riding with 50 percent of the vote.

Khera was first elected to Parliament in 2015 and held a number of cabinet posts. Prior to becoming health minister in the Carney government, she served as minister of seniors and later as minister of diversity, inclusions, and persons with disabilities under then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Good Outcome for Liberal MPs Who Reversed Decision Not to Run

The election overall had a good outcome for the Liberal MPs who, amid declining poll numbers for their party in the final months of the Trudeau government, said they would not to seek re-election, but later reversed course.

Senior cabinet minister Anita Anand, who had previously said she wanted to spend more time with her family but later decided to run again for public office at Carney’s request, won with 50.7 percent of the vote in Oakville East in Ontario, with the Conservative candidate getting 45.1 percent.

Transport Minister Anita Anand rises during question period in Ottawa on Dec. 17, 2024. The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld

Former Housing Minister Sean Fraser, who also said that he wanted to spend time with his family but that Carney asked him to reconsider, won in Central Nova with 51.8 percent of the vote, with the Conservative candidate getting 43 percent, taking second place.

Incumbent Liberal MP Helena Jaczek, former minister of public services and procurement, won in her Markham-Stouffville riding in Ontario with 51.3 percent of the vote compared to the Conservative candidate’s 45.4 percent. She had previously indicated she wouldn’t seek re-election but later said that with new leadership, there was “new energy ” in the party.

Housing Minister Nathan Erskine-Smith also retained his seat, getting 67.6 percent of the vote compared to the second-place Conservative candidate with 23.7 percent. Erskine-Smith changed his previous decision not to seek re-election late last year after Trudeau appointed him the minister of housing. He kept his portfolio in the Carney government.

Liberals Win a Riding in Saskatchewan

For the first time since the 2015 election, the Liberals won a seat in Saskatchewan.

Former provincial NDP MLA and federal Liberal candidate Buckley Belanger won the riding of Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River with 65 percent of the vote, with Conservative candidate Jim Lemaigre, a former Saskatchewan Party MLA, coming in second with 26 percent.

The riding was previously held by Conservative Gary Vidal, who decided not to run in the 2025 election.

In both the 2019 and 2021 elections, all the ridings in Saskatchewan were taken by the Conservatives.

No Gains for Liberals in Alberta

Edmonton Mayor and former Liberal cabinet minister Amarjeet Sohi takes part in a swearing in ceremony in Edmonton on Oct. 26, 2021. The Canadian Press/Jason Franson

The Liberals won two seats in Alberta in the 2021 election.

In the 2025 election, the party held on to the Edmonton Centre riding, with Liberal candidate Eleanor Olszewski winning with 44.2 percent of the vote compared to the Conservatives’ Sayid Ahmed. The riding was previously held by Liberal cabinet minister Randy Boissonnault, who resigned from cabinet amid scandals surrounding a company he used to co-own and decided not to seek re-election.

However, the party lost Calgary Skyview, which was represented by Liberal George Chahal after the 2021 election. That riding was taken by Conservative Amanpreet Gill in the April 28 election.

Chahal transitioned to the newly formed riding of Calgary McKnight in the 2025 election but lost to Conservative candidate Dalwinder Gill.

Meanwhile, the Liberals and the Conservatives are in a tight race in the Calgary Confederation riding, with Liberal candidate Corey Hogan having a slight edge with 47.8 percent of the votes compared to Conservative candidate Jeremy Nixon, a former Alberta cabinet minister, with 46.5 percent of the votes as of 4 a.m. EDT.

Liberal star candidate and Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi, a former Trudeau cabinet minister who lost in the 2019 federal election, lost in the Edmonton Southeast riding, getting 38.6 percent of the vote compared to the winner, Conservative candidate Jagsharan Singh Mahal, who got 53 percent. Sohi took an unpaid leave of absence from his mayoral role to run in the federal election.

Also in Alberta, NDP MP Heather McPherson held on to the longtime NDP stronghold riding of Edmonton Strathcona, but incumbent NDP MP Blake Desjarlais lost Edmonton Griesbach to former Conservative MP Kerry Diotte, reducing the NDP’s seat count in Alberta to one from the previous two seats the party held after the 2021 election.

Polls have shown increasing levels of Western alienation, with an April 6 poll by Angus Reid showing that a quarter of Albertans support separation from Canada. The poll said that the percentage increases with a Liberal win in the federal election.

Liberals, Conservatives Increase Vote Share

With 99 percent of the polling results available, the Liberals recorded a gain in the share of the national vote compared to the 2021 election results, going from 32.6 percent in 2021 to 43.5 percent in 2025.The Conservatives also raised their share of the national vote from 33.7 percent in the 2021 election to 41.4 percent in the 2025 election.

The other parties saw a decline in the share of the vote. The NDP went from 17.8 percent to 6.3 percent, and the Bloc went from 7.6 percent to 6.4 percent.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre (L) and Liberal Leader Mark Carney speak during the English-language leaders' debate in Montreal on April 17, 2025. Christopher Katsarov/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

Progressives Unite

The vote split for the right-of-centre parties was less compared to previous elections, with the People’s Party of Canada getting less than 1 percent of the national vote in the 2025 election compared to 4.9 percent in the 2021 election.

However, many progressives changed their vote to the Carney Liberals amid the Trump presidency and to prevent a Conservative government.

Former NDP Leader Tom Mulcair said during the election campaign that “die hard” NDP supporters were voting for Carney’s Liberals in this election because of the Trump presidency.

Current leader Singh told the Toronto Star that he didn’t vote to bring down the Liberal government on non-confidence motions late last year because the Conservatives were polling high and he didn’t want to see a majority Conservative government.

As well, the Greens said they deliberately didn’t run candidates in some ridings so as not to split the progressive vote, in order to stop the Conservatives from forming government.