Vote count to resume in “too close to call” ridings today

Liberal win, majority or minority TBD; Poilievre loses his riding

Elections Canada says it has decided to pause counting of special ballots until later Tuesday morning, Canadian Press reports.

A handful of ridings remain too close to call, and the move means Canadians won’t know until later in the day whether Mark Carney’s Liberals have won a minority or majority mandate. Special ballots are cast by mail or at Elections Canada offices by voters away from their ridings during the election.

The counting is to resume at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday. Elections Canada reported  74,843 of 75,479 (99.16 %) at 5:12am EST.

“We understand the importance of having timely results after polls close. As a result of the high participation rate in this election, particularly by special ballot and at advance polls, more time was needed to count ballots and report results,” an Elections Canada spokesperson told CityNews.

“To help ensure the accuracy of the counts, at around 5 a.m. [ET] after election night, the counting of special ballots at our facility in Ottawa was paused to give counters and scrutineers a break. We anticipate having all ballots counted and results reported later [Tuesday].”

Carney won his riding and the Liberals held on to power on Monday night, but there were a large number of advanced votes and counting stretched on until early Tuesday morning.

Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre was defeated by Liberal candidate Bruce Fanjoy in his Ottawa-area riding of Carleton, ending Poilievre’s 20-year tenure as MP in that riding. Social media post pointed out that some Ottawa residents are still angry Poilievre supported the Truckers’ Freedom Convoy.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh lost his Vancouver-area riding, announced he will step down once an interim leader is chosen.