Liberals projected to form minority government – National | Globalnews.ca

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau is now projected to hold onto his role as prime minister — but Canadians appear to have voted in the federal election on Monday to keep requiring him to work with the other parties in order to govern in a second minority government.

The decision by voters returns the Liberals to power but does not grant them the four years of stability and power that a majority win would have conferred.

Trudeau will need to continue working with the other parties in order to govern and pass the major pieces of legislation he promised voters during the campaign.

He faced criticism from opposition parties and critics over recent weeks for calling the election in the midst of the fourth wave of COVID-19.

READ MORE: Live coverage — 2021 Canadian election coverage

He billed the move as a necessary chance for Canadians to decide on which parties’ vision for the pandemic recovery they want to see put into place.

The Liberals ran a campaign centred around continued spending with no plan to balance the budget, but with key promises of $10-per-day childcare and vaccine mandates for federal workers as well as for travellers on planes and trains.

All eyes will now be on NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, who is poised to once again play kingmaker and will have to decide whether to prop up a minority Liberal government.

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Canada election: Positive mood for Liberals as campaign comes to an end

The pandemic election is the most expensive in Canadian history at an estimated $600 million, and speculation has been rampant about whether voters will choose to keep restraints on whichever party they elect to govern with a potential minority.

A majority government was the glittering prize all parties eyed during campaigns, but last-minute polling released Sunday night raised questions on whether one would actually be possible.

Polls closed in B.C. at 10 p.m. ET and at 9:30 p.m. ET from Quebec right the way west to Alberta.

Early results had begun trickling in from Atlantic Canada shortly after 7:30 p.m. ET on Monday night.

Already there are indications that the federal Conservatives are not picking up key seats in the vote-rich ridings where they needed to seize big gains in order to oust the Liberals.

Liberals are leading or projected to be elected in 150 ridings compared to 122 for the Conservatives as of 10:42 p.m. ET. The Bloc Quebecois are leading or projected to win in 29 ridings, with the NDP leading or projected to win 26 ridings and the Greens with three.

Liberals held 155 seats at the end of the last Parliament, while the Conservatives held 119.

The rest were divided between the NDP, Bloc Québécois, Green Party and Independent MPs.

More to come.