Politics This Morning: Canadians re-elect Trudeau Liberals to form government; Green and People’s Party leaders fail to gain seats, hundreds of thousands of mail-in votes not yet counted

Good Tuesday morning, Just like that, the federal election is over. Well, almost. Even as Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau was projected to form government, several ridings remained undecided with ballots still counting into the wee hours of the morning. Elections Canada previously warned, with the uptick in mail-in ballots, final results could take longer for some ridings. Still, early results in the late evening showed Parliament was likely to look much like it did before Canada was thrust into a 36-day campaign period. (At the dissolution of Parliament, the Liberals had 155 seats, the Conservatives 119, the Bloc 32, the NDP 24, and the Greens two. There were five Independent MPs and one seat was vacant.) By 11:15 p.m., the CBC was projecting that the Liberals would form a minority government. The Liberals were leading in 156 ridings, Conservatives 122, Bloc Quebecois in 31, and NDP in 27, and the Green Party in two. Even with hundreds of thousands of mail-in votes yet to be counted, by Monday evening it was clear to some experts the Liberals were unlikely to pull off a majority win. https://twitter.com/MehmetTohti/status/1440146396749828100 https://twitter.com/DavidColetto/status/1440155251936423942 This election was criticized for long wait times at polls, with some Canadians having to wait hours in line to vote. Elections Canada's website also experienced technical difficulties for several hours, with people unable to use its app to find their closest voting station. In the riding of King–Vaughan, Ont., people waited in line at a polling station past 10 p.m. Elections Canada had announced earlier that people would be still able to cast their vote as long as they arrived "at your polling station before it closes." At least two in Trudeau’s cabinet lost their seat last night. With Atlantic Canada reporting first, former fisheries minister Bernadette Jordan, who was first elected in 2015, was first to be bumped from the post. Ms. Jordan has served in cabinet since January 2019, not long after she was elected with a 13.6 percentage point lead over the Conservatives, who emerged victorious last night. And, Women and Gender Equality and Rural Economic Development Minister Maryam Monsef is also out the door. Her Peterborough-Kawartha Ont., riding was clearly one to watch heading into election night, having been won in 2019 by a 4.4 per cent margin. She lost to first-time Conservative candidate Michelle Ferreri. Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole was re-elected in his riding of Durham for the third time, for the second time defeating Liberal Jonathan Giancroce, a 27-year-old Liberal contender and insurance underwriter. (In 2019 , Mr. O’Toole won the riding with 42.1 per cent of the votes, to Giancroce’s 32.2 per cent.) As of 11:45 p.m., NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh was on track to win re-election in his riding of Burnaby South, B.C., with 37 per cent of the votes ahead of Liberal candidate Brea Huang Sami's 32 per cent. Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet was able to win re-election in the riding of Beloeil—Chambly, Que., winning 54 per cent of the vote as of 11 p.m., with just over a quarter of polls reporting. His Liberal opponent, Marie-Chantal Hamel, had 22.7 per cent of the vote. As was predicted by the polls, Green Party Leader Annamie Paul was unable to secure her seat in Toronto Centre, Ont., coming in fourth place in the riding. The Greens' hopes of winning big in Atlantic Canada were also squashed, with their seat in New Brunswick flipping to the Liberals, and candidates in P.E.I., where Ms. Paul travelled last week, finishing behind the other candidates. Former party leader Elizabeth May said that Ms. Paul made a "very daring and risky" choice to continue running in Toronto Centre, but added that "staying in the riding" was ultimately a good call given her "deep roots." https://twitter.com/derrickokeefe/status/1440125219570552837 However, the Greens looked poised to pick up a seat in Kitchener, Ont., with candidate Mike Morris beating Conservative Mary Henein Thorn, after incumbent Liberal Raj Saini resigned from the race. The seat had been held by Liberal Raj Saini, since 2015, but he ended his campaign for re-election after allegations of sexual harassment were made against him. The People's Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier also had an unsuccessful night, failing for the second time at winning his seat of Beauce in Quebec. But the party did make gains in the polls, and managed to take away support from the Conservative party. In his concession speech, Mr. Bernier thanked his "purple army" for their support, and vowed to do better in the next election by sending candidates "to the Hill." On the flip side, as the polls closed in Atlantic Canada, Natural Resources Minister Seamus O’Reagan was among the first candidates to be declared victorious in his Newfoundland and Labrador riding. As the evening unfolded, The Hill Times also tracked what politicos were saying about e-day. Many commented on the long lines that kept some across the country waiting for hours to exercise their franchise. Some were critical especially of the length of the 36-day campaign, the shortest period permitted, given the pandemic. “Elections Canada asked Mr. Trudeau for a longer writ period to spread voting period longer and add safety/options because of a shortage of poll workers,” Jason Lietaer president of the strategic communications firm Enterprise and a former adviser to prime minister Stephen Harper, said on Twitter. “He chose the shortest possible writ period because he thought it worked better for him.” Elections Canada apologized for technical problems with its website that was supposed to point voters where to go to the polls, but was giving users an error message "We're sorry electors were having issues with getting the information they needed. We were having technical problems with our online Voter Information Service earlier this morning, but those have since been resolved," Elections Canada spokesperson Nathalie de Montigny told CBC News on Monday. In other news, a director at Pfizer Canada says it will "share the urgency" data on the COVID-19 vaccine in an effort to gain authorization for children "as early as possible." That data will be shared with Health Canada, and the company said Monday it will show the shot works for kids aged five to 11, per The Canadian Press. Up today, the North American Society for Intelligence History is hosting a noon webinar on the Canadian intelligence system and global pandemics, featuring Wesley Wark, a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation. Mr. Wark will explore how the Canadian intelligence system suffered a serious failure early in the pandemic, partly the result of problems within the Public Health Agency of Canada. The Hill Times UPDATED: This article was updated on Sept. 21, 2021, to reflect updated election results, to correct the time of the CBC's projection, and to remove an unauthorized photograph.

Politics This Morning: Canadians re-elect Trudeau Liberals to form government; Green and People’s Party leaders fail to gain seats, hundreds of thousands of mail-in votes not yet counted

Plus, Pfizer Canada says it will ‘share the urgency’ data on the COVID-19 vaccine in an effort to gain authorization for children ‘as early as possible.

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Politics This Morning: Canadians re-elect Trudeau Liberals to form government; Green and People’s Party leaders fail to gain seats, hundreds of thousands of mail-in votes not yet counted

Plus, Pfizer Canada says it will ‘share the urgency’ data on the COVID-19 vaccine in an effort to gain authorization for children ‘as early as possible.

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