Dispatches from Canada's Historic Election Night

The last British Columbians to cast their votes barely had enough time to get home and flip on their televisions before broadcasters began declaring Canada’s next government would be Liberal. But as the night progressed the signs of a likely majority Liberal government became less certain.

A Liberal win of any kind means a major reversal for the Pierre Poilievre-led Conservatives who assumed they had a lock on victory as recently as December. But then came Trudeau’s step-down and Trump’s tariffs and threats to annex Canada, even just before election day urging the erasure of the “artificial” line between the two countries to create one “beautiful land mass.”

Late into the evening Poilievre conceded defeat and vowed to fight for all Canadians “no matter what party they voted for” and pronounced that before and during the campaign “we’ve won the big debates of our time.”

Carney appeared minutes later to give a gracious victory speech expressing defiance against Trump’s U.S. while committing to a spirit of “humility.”

It was a night when Elizabeth May held on to her seat — the lone victory for the Greens she co-leads. And a night when Jagmeet Singh, finishing third in his B.C. riding, signalled the end of his run as NDP leader. Singh became emotional as he proudly reminded his party played a key role in conceiving and passing important progressive legislation — dental care, expanded pharmacare — via a supply and confidence agreement with Trudeau’s Liberals.

If Liberals secure a majority it will send a thundering signal not just across Canada but around the globe rejecting the trend toward Trump and other illiberal autocrats. As British historian and author Timothy Garten Ash wrote in the Guardian yesterday, “Fortunately, it looks as if Canada is going to have a government that is not just Liberal in name but also combatively liberal in nature.”

Tyee reporters visited some key riding events in B.C. and filed the reports below. We'll update this report Tuesday morning.

A NAIL-BITING NDP LOSS IN SKEENA-BULKLEY VALLEY

Amanda Follett-Hosgood reports:

In northwest B.C., where the riding of Skeena-Bulkley Valley has been held by the NDP for more than 20 years, incumbent Taylor Bachrach fought to hold on to his seat as the polls favoured Conservative candidate Ellis Ross.

As the numbers began rolling in early in the evening, supporters appeared buoyed at a watch party in Bachrach’s hometown of Smithers. But as the evening wore on, Bachrach’s lead began to slide. The Smithers watch party wrapped up shortly after 10:30 p.m., as Conservative candidate Ross took a narrow lead over his NDP opponent.

It wasn’t until late Monday evening that the riding officially swung in favour of the Conservatives, as Ross finished with a nine-point lead over the NDP incumbent.

Phil Brienesse, the Smithers organizer for the NDP campaign, said Bachrach had seen “enormous” support from some small communities that reported earlier, such as First Nations communities and towns closer to the coast. The Wet’suwet’en community of Witset saw “an all-time record turnout,” he said.

Communities in the east of the riding, such as Houston and Burns Lake, were leaning toward the Conservatives, Brienesse added, while Smithers polls were “pretty much 50-50.”

He added that the team was awaiting results from some areas of strong support, like the community of Daajing Giids on Haida Gwaii, where the NDP won 70 per cent of the vote in the last election.

“We were hearing there were two-hour lineups in Daajing Giids,” Brienesse said. “There’s hope that could push us over the edge.”

But it wasn’t enough to sway the outcome in the NDP’s favour. In a statement to The Tyee, Bachrach thanked his campaign team.

“I’m incredibly proud of the campaign our team ran. It’s been the honour of my life to serve the people of this region, and despite the perilous times we’re living in, I’m filled with hope for the future,” he said.

The Tyee reached out to Ross via text on Monday evening but did not receive a response.

At roughly 10 times the size of Vancouver Island, the riding is among the biggest in Canada. Michelle Larstone, who is Bachrach’s wife and also a volunteer with the campaign, said that Bachrach travelled today from Smithers to Kitimat to Prince Rupert and then Terrace, with plans to be home this evening — a distance of more than 800 kilometres.

Ross is a former BC Liberal MLA and former chief councillor for the Haisla Nation. He has signalled support for the Conservatives’ plan to lift an oil tanker moratorium for B.C.’s north coast, which could open up the region for future pipeline development — a contentious issue in a riding that depends on industries like fishing and tourism.

Liberal candidate Inderpal Dhillon has had little presence during the campaign, having not participated in any debates. Dhillon blamed the riding’s size and said he’s focused on door knocking to connect with constituents. The Liberal party has little standing in the riding, rarely breaking 20 per cent of the vote. It ended the night with 11 per cent of the vote.

NDP LEADER JAGMEET SINGH CONCEDES AND RESIGNS

Jen St. Denis reports from Burnaby South:

At the NDP’s election night party in Burnaby, the mood was apprehensive as the party’s greatly reduced seat count became apparent over the course of the night — and as it became obvious that leader Jagmeet Singh would not be able to keep his own seat in the riding of Burnaby Central.

“I know this night is a disappointing night for New Democrats. We have really good candidates that lost tonight. I know how hard you worked. I spent time with you, and you’re amazing,” Singh told supporters. “I’m so sorry you’re not going to be able to represent your communities.”

Singh congratulated Mark Carney as Canada’s new prime minister. Then, he announced he would be stepping down as leader of the NDP — a role he’s held since 2017. Although Singh is from Ontario, he ran in Burnaby Central in 2019, and won the riding again in 2021.

“Obviously, I’m disappointed that we could not win more seats. But I’m not disappointed in our movement. I’m hopeful for our party. I know that we will always choose hope over fear and optimism over despair and unity over hate,” Singh said.

“Democrats built this country. We built the best of Canada — and we aren’t going anywhere.”

Before Singh spoke, BC Federation of Labour president Sussanne Skidmore talked about the NDP’s achievements under Singh’s leadership, when the party was able to push for expanded health care programs like pharmacare and dental care. The party’s platform heavily emphasized expanding more services and much more federal funding for health care.

But many voters across Canada opted to vote for the Liberals to prevent the Conservatives from forming government — at the expense of NDP support. At time of writing, the NDP’s confirmed seats stood at just seven — compared to the 25 seats the party held before election day. In British Columbia, longtime NDP MP Peter Julian came in third in his New Westminster-Burnaby-Maillardville, behind Conservative candidate Indy Panchi and Liberal Jake Sawatzky. Another longtime NDP MP, Don Davies, was leading in his Vancouver-Kingsway riding by just 127 votes.

Siobhan Vipont, the vice-president of the Canadian Labour Congress, said the results are definitely “not as many seats as we’d like to see” and after the election is over, the party will be taking stock of what’s next.

“It’s a little bittersweet tonight — but the Conservatives were defeated,” Vipont said.

She said the party’s voice is still vital to stand up for workers and push for increased health care funding and services.

In the wake of a horrific vehicle attack that killed 11 people at a Filipino community fest in Vancouver this weekend — and where the perpetrator had been dealing with serious mental health issues — The Tyee asked Vipont about the NDP’s specific focus on expanding mental health treatment as part of the party’s health care platform.

“Public health care — we mean that in the broadest terms. This recent expansion that we saw included pharmacare. It’s talking about dental care, about mental health across the country,” Vipont said. “People are begging for supports.”

While the NDP will now have to take stock and rebuild, Vipont said party supporters are still committed to lifting up workers and families.

“We can be proud that’s what we support, and that’s what we build on.”

Mitch Biagioni volunteered for NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh’s campaign in Burnaby Central. Biagoni said he’d never volunteered for the NDP before, but got angry one day while listening to U.S. President Donald Trump, who has threatened Canada with punishing tariffs and said the country should become an American state.

“I said, I have to stop yelling at the television and actually go out and do something,” Biagoni said.

The 36-year-old teacher who lives in Pitt Meadows spent the election campaign working the phones and door-knocking in NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh’s riding of Burnaby Central. He said the two biggest issues he heard on the doorstep were concerns about Trump’s threats and housing.

But Biagoni also said many voters told him they thought the Liberals were better equipped to deal with Trump’s belligerence.

“I don’t know why they thought that,” Biagoni said.

Despite the loss of seats for the NDP, Biagoni said he still hopes the MPs that are elected from the party will put pressure on the Liberals on housing and on climate change.

“There are a lot of issues that no one’s talking about, like environmental issues,” Biagoni said.

LIBERAL HEDY FRY’S HISTORIC WIN

Katie Hyslop reports from Vancouver Centre:

Hedy Fry, the long-term Liberal MP for Vancouver Centre, extended her 33 years in Parliament tonight with her 11th straight win. Fry, a physician for 20 years before defeating then-Prime Minister Kim Campbell as a rookie candidate in the 1993 federal election, is the longest-serving female politician in Canadian history.

For Fry, the race wasn’t even close, pulling in 48.7 per cent of the vote compared to Conservative Party of Canada’s Elaine Allan, former CEO of Skills Canada BC, at just 34.5 per cent. Avi Lewis, a journalist and part of a two-generation NDP family dynasty, came third with 13.6 per cent of the vote.

“For the first time, British Columbia is going to make it a majority government,” Fry said to her supporters, calling a majority government for the Liberals at 9:30 pm PT, although the media had not done so.

“We are playing the biggest role that we’ve ever played in national politics before. So let’s all hear it for British Columbia. We rock!”

Fry, a stalwart supporter of the LGBTQ2S+ community, held her election party at Junction, a queer bar in Davie Village, Vancouver’s historically queer neighbourhood.

But Liberal Leader Mark Carney, whose election announcement for his own riding received big cheers from the sparse early turnout at Junction, faced criticism during the campaign for his late and quiet support of queer and trans people.

Especially since Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre made his own position clear before the campaign began by stating he was only aware of two genders, and that minors should not have access to puberty blockers.

In an interview with The Tyee, Fry noted the Liberals have always supported everything she has brought forward for the LGBTQ2S+ community.

Carney, she said, would be no different.

“Mark Carney in his platform talked about the Charter. He said, ‘In the Charter, every single human being in this country is equal.’ And he also promised to make permanent all the funding to LGBTQ, especially trans groups, in terms of support,” she said, adding this includes the Vancouver-based Rainbow Refugee.

“I think we can see if he’s supporting Rainbow Refugees, that when we have people who are going to be coming up from the United States, if they’re being persecuted down there, I think you might find that this country is going to be welcoming to them.”

CONSERVATIVE AARON GUNN WINS CONTENTIOUS FIGHT

andrea bennett reports from North Island Powell River:

Electoral projections consistently showed Aaron Gunn in the lead in North Island-Powell River, even as First Nations leaders and a chunk of his potential constituency called on the Conservatives to oust him from the running after resurfaced social media posts showed Gunn denying that Canada participated in a genocide against Indigenous Peoples.

Gunn also faced criticism for skipping all-candidates meetings and holding mostly private, rally-style events instead of public events.

At NDP candidate Tanille Johnston’s watch party in Powell River, people remain cautiously optimistic even as the polls start to show that Gunn is pulling ahead. Johnston, Liǧʷiłdax̌ʷ from the We Wai Kai First Nation, made it her goal to hold as many public events and meet-ups as possible, including aiming to visit all 22 First Nations in the riding.

Around 8:30, Pierre Poilievre’s riding flashes across the screen. He’s losing. People cheer.

A little while later, the NDP’s watch party takes a break from the CBC’s livestream of election results to play a round of trivia about the history of the party. Among the questions: what was the radical wing of the NDP that broke off to form their own party in the late 1960s? Answer: the Waffle.

The Tyee texts some questions to the phone number posted to the door at Aaron Gunn’s campaign office in Powell River. At first, our speech bubble turns from blue to green — have they blocked us? Among the questions we wanted to ask: how does Gunn plan to govern if he wins, given that a large chunk of constituents feel like he’s dodged accountability for his previous social media posts?

But soon, as polls begin to show the riding flip from orange to blue — Aaron Gunn takes the lead — our speech bubbles change colour again, too. The watch party is heading to a local restaurant, Paul Forseth, the Powell River contact for Gunn’s campaign, texts.

Tanille Johnston comes on-screen at 9:35, beaming into the riding’s watch parties from her campaign office in Campbell River. 235 polls of 310 are reporting, and she’s losing to Gunn — her 35.3 per cent of the vote to Gunn’s 38.7 per cent. The CBC calls the riding for Gunn as she’s on screen.

But that hasn’t put a dent in her mood.

“I’m super psyched at the energy that’s been put into this campaign,” she says.

“People ask me,” she says, “who’s your handler? It’s whoever shows up!”

And people really have been showing up, she says.

“I want to thank all of the Nations that have really stepped forward in this race,” she says. “I’m so grateful for all the support.”

What’s the mood like with the Conservatives? We message Forseth.

“Happy for our riding, but sad for the country as last I heard Carney was elected,” he writes back.

qathet co-ordinator for Tanille Johnston’s campaign, Lisa Moffatt, introduces me to two volunteers from a local community health centre. They’ve been helping get unhoused people and people without ID out to vote today. People were mobilized to vote this election, they said — people who’d never voted before. Aaron Gunn’s policies around harm reduction and housing came up as themes, they said, though everyone had their own particular motivations.

As Poilievre gives his concession speech, the NDP watch party breaks into song: “Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey, goooOodbye.”

GREEN PARTY CO-LEADER ELIZABETH MAY KEEPS HER SEAT

Andrew MacLeod reports:

At Elizabeth May’s election night event there were cheers each time tallies appeared showing May ahead, then a large cheer when she was declared elected. The crowd also applauded when former BC Green Party leader Sonia Furstenau, who was providing commentary, appeared on the screen.

Speaking to the crowd of around 200, May, who is 70 years old, said she had spoken with Liberal Leader Mark Carney and congratulated him on the win and continuing as prime minister. “And he congratulated me for being re-elected,” she said, adding that he’d told her it would be good to have seasoned and knowledgeable leadership in the house.

May thanked the 250 volunteers who she said had worked hard on her campaign. “It’s a community achievement,” she said. “It’s not me alone, ever.”

She criticized the media for counting the party out and expressed glee to have proven the pundits wrong. “We are here,” she said. “Sorry National Post, we’re not going away.”

Later in comments to reporters May said it was difficult to get the Greens’ message out through the national media, especially without participation in the televised debates. That profile would have made a difference, especially for her co-leader, Jonathan Pednault, in Outremont.

Asked to compare the victory to past elections, May said it was exciting in 2011 when nobody expected her to win. This time, she allowed, “I felt somewhat more nervous.”

In an election that was largely about leadership and U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to Canada, the Greens found themselves in a tough spot made worse when the commission organizing the televised debate ruled the party ineligible because it had failed to meet the criteria to participate.

As results began coming in earlier in the evening some in the room were cautiously optimistic the party would do better than expected.

Success would be holding onto the two seats the Greens held going into the election, May’s plus Mike Morrice’s in Kitchener Centre, and picking up the one Paul Manly previously represented in Nanaimo-Ladysmith, said Laura Ferreira, a staff person for the provincial BC Green Party caucus who attended May’s election night event as a supporter.

It would be “incredible” to gain any more than that, Ferreira added. “It feels right now with the big red wave and the blue wave that everyone else is getting squeezed out with the strategic voting.”

Tom Hackney said it’s important to have a Green voice in Parliament. “I’ve been canvassing for Elizabeth May in this election and I think it’s really important that she wins,” he said.

The other parties talk about climate action but haven’t really committed to it, said Hackney. “I want someone like Elizabeth May in Parliament who can bring up the issue in an unvarnished manner and not have it couched in superficial terms.”

The evening included poems from Lorna Crozier, music from Bill Henderson of the band Chilliwack and a duet between May and her husband John Kidder.

Both members of the B.C. provincial Green caucus were in the audience.

“A great MP gets re-elected,” said Jeremy Valeriote, the MLA for West Vancouver-Sea to Sky. “It’s still about the candidate as much as the party.”

Rob Botterell, who represents Saanich North and the Islands, said people value May’s commitment to the community and the hard work she does for constituents. “It’s nice to have a double Green riding still,” he added.

As results continued to come in, the Greens appeared to have received less than two per cent of the popular vote, falling below the threshold to have a portion of election expenses reimbursed through public funding.

In the days and months to come there will be questions about leadership, the future of the party and whether it can grow, but on election night it was a celebration for May.

*Story updated on April 30, 2025 at 11:30 a.m. to correct that Sussanne Skidmore is president of the BC Federation of Labour, not the BC General Employees’ Union.