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The Canadian Press decision desk projected the Liberal Party of Canada under Mark Carney will form the next government, and the party was hoping to pick up enough seats in Quebec to clinch a majority. The Bloc is looking to retain enough ridings to claim the balance of power. 

“Quebec is coming through for the Liberals. After a rough start in the Maritimes and a shaky one in Ontario, organizers on the ground are delivering where it counts,” said Jeremy Ghio, a political analyst and former Liberal staffer. “Key battlegrounds are breaking their way in Quebec.”

Still, nearly two hours after polls closed in Quebec and Ontario, the Liberals were not leading in enough seats nationwide to form a majority government. 

At the Bloc’s Montreal watch party, there was little reaction when the TV networks declared a Liberal government. People in the room continued to cheer on Bloc candidates who were in tight races as they appeared on screens.

By 11 p.m., Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly, Canadian Culture Minister Steven Guilbeault and Employment Minister Steven MacKinnon had been re-elected. Former minister Jean-Yves Duclos had also been re-elected in his Quebec City riding. 

However, the Bloc managed an upset in Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine—Listuguj, where Bloc candidate Alexis Deschênes, a lawyer and former journalist, unseated former Liberal minister Diane Lebouthillier.

Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet had been re-elected in his South Shore riding, as had Bloc MP Louis Plamondon, the longest-serving current member of the House of Commons. 

The Liberals were leading or elected in several ridings around the Island of Montreal, including the riding of La Prairie—Atateken, held by Bloc House leader Alain Therrien. The suburban ridings around Montreal are traditionally friendly to the Bloc, and political observers see it as a bellwether region. 

Two star Liberal candidates — École Polytechnique survivor Nathalie Provost and former Quebec finance minister Carlos Leitão — have been elected in ridings outside Montreal. The Liberals were also leading comfortably in the battleground riding of Trois-Rivières, which had looked like a three-way race with the Bloc incumbent and the Conservatives. 

Liberal candidate Claude Guay had been elected in LaSalle—Émard—Verdun, a Liberal stronghold that the Bloc managed to flip during a byelection last September. 

The Conservatives were leading or elected in several ridings in and around Quebec City, and could be on track to pick up a couple of seats beyond the nine they held at the dissolution of Parliament.

NDP MP Alexandre Boulerice, the party’s lone member in the province, has been re-elected in the Montreal riding of Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie.

The campaign in Quebec was a tough slog for Blanchet, who watched his party lose ground to the Liberals as U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats of tariffs and annexation dominated headlines. Blanchet told reporters Monday that he would be waiting impatiently for the results to see if his party’s objectives were met, though he declined to divulge exactly what those objectives are.

Political analyst Antonine Yaccarini said the Bloc needs to win at least 20 seats — down from the 33 they held at dissolution — to be able to say it was a “decent campaign.”

Partway through the campaign, the Bloc appeared to be at risk of keeping fewer than the 12 seats it will need to maintain official party status. The Liberals seemed poised to win close to 50 of the province’s 78 seats, which would have been the party’s best showing in decades. 

The Bloc seemed to have narrowed the gap in the latter stage of the campaign, but was still on track to lose seats. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 28, 2025. 

— With files from Morgan Lowrie in Montreal