OTTAWA — With a handful of ridings still too close to call, the Liberals still had a faint hope on Tuesday to form a majority government.
Elections Canada resumed counting in the morning, including advance polls and special ballots for Canadians who are either travelling, living abroad, incarcerated or cast their votes on college or university campuses.
Liberals picked up a seat in the Montreal-area riding of Terrebonne in Quebec. Liberal challenger Tatiana Auguste won by 35 votes ahead of Bloc Québécois incumbent Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné, but the close result will likely lead to an automatic judicial recount.
More election results were expected to be unveiled later in the day.
That means that Liberals are on course to win a projected 169 seats — three seats short of a majority — but that could change again, depending on if they manage to pick up enough seats to get to the magic number of 172 seats they need to serve a full four-year term.
In Nunavut, NDP incumbent Lori Idlout was elected with 77 votes ahead of Liberal candidate Kilikvak Kabloona. Her NDP colleague Don Davies also managed to hang onto his seat in Vancouver Kingsway by 310 votes against Liberal challenger Amy K. Gill.
In New Brunswick’s Miramichi—Grand Lake riding, Conservative candidate Mike Dawson managed to hold on to the seat previously held by fellow Tory Jake Stewart. Dawson faced a fierce battle from Liberal candidate Lisa Harris, who was behind with 394 votes.
Liberals also officially lost seats to the Tories by a few hundred seats in a handful of Ontario ridings.
In Windsor—Tecumsek—Lakeshore, Liberal incumbent Irek Kusmierczyk lost to Conservative challenger Kathy Borrelli by 233 votes. Conservative candidate Parm Gill also picked up the riding of Milton East—Halton Hills South with 298 votes.
Conservative candidate Matt Strauss won against Liberal incumbent Valerie Bradford in Kitchener South—Hespeler by more than 1,000 votes. In Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, Liberal incumbent Chad Collins lost to his Conservative challenger Ned Kuruc by nearly 1,500 votes.
In the Quebec riding of Shefford, Bloc incumbent Andréanne Larouche held on to her seat with 571 votes ahead of Liberal challenger Felix Dionne.
In British Columbia, the riding of Cloverdale—Langley City was one to watch for the tight race between the Conservatives and the Liberals. In the end, Conservative candidate Tamara Jenson won against Liberal challenger
Kyle Latchford by 769 votes.
In Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, Conservative incumbent Marc Dalton was holding on to his seat with less than 1,500 votes but there were still eight polls left to count.
Liberals were also leading with tight margins in the Newfoundland and Labrador riding of Terra Nova—The Peninsulas with 46 votes.
In the B.C. riding of Kelowna, Liberal candidate Stephen Fuhr will be making a comeback in Parliament. He won against Conservative incumbent Tracy Gray with a slim margin of 235 votes.
In the Quebec riding of Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, Liberal candidate Natilien Joseph won against Bloc incumbent Denis Trudel by 749 votes.
National Post
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