Prime Minister Mark Carney promised to unite the country and govern for all after Canadians handed the Liberals a fourth consecutive mandate in Monday’s federal election.
“Who is ready,” he shouted to cheers and applause and people chanting his name in a crowded hockey arena in Ottawa in the wee hours of the morning. “Who is ready? Who is ready to stand up for Canada with me? And who is ready to build Canada strong?”
The final size of Carney’s caucus was not clear early Tuesday morning because a handful of seats were still too close to call — but it looked likely that his government would have to have to work with other parties to pass legislation.
“Let’s put an end to the division and anger of the past,” Carney said in his victory speech, noting that millions had voted against his Liberal party.
“We are all Canadian, and my government will work for and with everyone.”
He spoke shortly after Pierre Poilievre’s concession speech, which saw the Conservative leader hush some booing from the crowd when he congratulated Carney on his win.
“No, no, we’ll have plenty of opportunity to debate and disagree. But tonight we come together as Canadians,” Poilievre said.
It was still not clear in the early hours of Tuesday morning whether Poilievre had held his Ottawa-area riding of Carleton against a robust challenge from Liberal candidate Bruce Fanjoy.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh lost his Vancouver-area seat and announced he’d be resigning as NDP leader once the party selects an interim replacement.
“We may lose sometimes and those losses hurt,” Singh said, fighting emotion as he stood beside his wife on a stage in Burnaby, B.C.
“We’re only defeated when we believe … those that tell us that we can never dream of a better Canada, a fairer Canada, a more compassionate Canada.”
The party held 24 seats at the dissolution of Parliament and needs 12 to obtain official party status, which comes with additional privileges and research funding in the House of Commons. The NDP was leading or elected in just seven ridings as of 2 a.m. EDT.
Poilievre said he will hold the Liberal government to account, adding that his purpose in politics “will continue to be” working for Canadians to build a safe and affordable country.
“We have to learn the lessons of tonight so that we can have an even better result the next time,” he said, adding that he ran in “a very difficult environment.”
Carney will take a seat in the House of Commons for the first time, having won his Ottawa-area riding. He said he will make mistakes as prime minister but promised to admit to them and correct them.
“We will fight back with everything we have to get the best deal for Canada,” he said. “Together, we will build a Canada worthy of our values.”
Earlier in the evening, cheers erupted at the hockey arena where Liberal supporters gathered to watch the results after media outlets declared the party would form government.
At that same moment, Conservative supporters who gathered at a downtown Ottawa convention centre went silent. A man wearing a “Pierre Poilievre for prime minister” T-shirt held his head in his hands.
Some expressed frustration and disbelief after hearing the news that Carney would remain prime minister. “I truly do not understand,” said Joanne Gurman.
About 20 minutes after the call was made, some of the Conservative faithful began a chant of “bring it home” — one of Poilievre’s most popular slogans during the campaign.
The Liberals have seen a massive rebound since the start of the year, after more than a year of the Conservatives being favoured to win a majority government while Justin Trudeau was in power.
Both the Liberals and Conservatives gained seats while losing incumbents.
Those losses include outspoken Conservative incumbent Michelle Ferreri of Peterborough, Ont., and a Newfoundland riding that the Liberals held for a decade under Gudie Hutchings, a cabinet minister who opted to not run again.
The Liberals flipped Toronto — St. Paul’s, with Leslie Church defeating Conservative Don Stewart less than a year after she lost to him in a byelection that sent shock waves through the party last summer and put pressure on Trudeau to resign.
Carney, Singh and Poilievre spent five weeks pitching their cases to voters.
Carney, a former central banker and a political neophyte, presented himself during the campaign as a safe pair of hands for a country facing Trump’s economic threats, while Poilievre focused on addressing crime and the high cost of living.
Singh started the campaign saying he was running for prime minister, but he changed his message after two weeks and started calling on Canadians to elect New Democrats to protect social programs.
Trump loomed large over the campaign with his tariff threats and calls for Canada to become a U.S. state, causing Carney to leave the campaign trail at various times to hold meetings in his capacity as prime minister.
The American president even weighed in early on election day with a post on his Truth Social platform, where he repeated calls for Canada to join the U.S. and wished “good luck to the Great people of Canada.”
“Elect the man who has the strength and wisdom to cut your taxes in half, increase your military power, for free, to the highest level in the World, have your Car, Steel, Aluminum, Lumber, Energy, and all other businesses, QUADRUPLE in size, WITH ZERO TARIFFS OR TAXES, if Canada becomes the cherished 51st. State of the United States of America,” he wrote.
On the final full day of the campaign, all major party leaders paused to address a deadly vehicle attack at a Filipino community event in Vancouver that took the lives of at least 11 attendees, leaving more injured in hospital.
When Parliament was dissolved, the Liberals held 153 seats in a minority government and the Conservatives formed the official Opposition with 120 seats. The Bloc Québécois held 33 seats, the NDP 24 and the Greens two. There were three independent MPs.
Because of changes to riding boundaries, the 2025 general election had 343 seats contested, up from 338.
— With files from Kyle Duggan, Sarah Ritchie, and Craig Lord in Ottawa, Rianna Lim in Toronto and David Baxter in Burnaby, B.C.
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