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Supporters gathered in TD Place in Ottawa wearing Liberal red, many sporting “Carney” buttons and “Canada strong” shirts. They broke into more cheers as the TV reports showed the results coming in Carney’s Nepean riding.

Carney watched the election results at a downtown Ottawa hotel. He briefly let reporters into the room earlier in the evening as he watched the returns come in with wife Diana Fox Carney.

He will address the crowd later Monday.

It’s a pivotal night for a party that, just months ago, was seen to be marching toward defeat.

Canadians went to the polls today after a 37-day election period, casting their votes in 343 ridings across the country.

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.

Earlier in the day, Carney cast his ballot at an Anglican church in Ottawa alongside Fox Carney. While Carney is running for a seat in Nepean, he voted in the nearby Ottawa—Vanier—Gloucester riding where he currently lives and where Liberal candidate Mona Fortier is running for re-election.

Carney, a former central banker and a political novice, became Liberal leader and prime minister in March. He has focused much of his campaign on arguing he’s the best leader to take on U.S. President Donald Trump.

Carney paused his campaign several times to deal with Trump’s tariffs in his capacity as prime minister. Carney revealed late in the campaign that in a phone call, Trump had brought up his idea of making Canada a U.S. state — even though Carney initially described the discussion as “cordial” and said Trump treated Canada with respect as a sovereign nation.

In early January, polls suggested the Conservatives would win the election, as Poilievre led the Liberals by more than 25 points. But with the departure of former prime minister Justin Trudeau and Trump’s tariffs and threats against Canadian sovereignty, Liberal fortunes turned around dramatically.

Quito Maggi, president and CEO of Mainstreet Research, attending the Liberal campaign event Monday night, described the last four months as “unprecedented.”

“Trump gets inaugurated. Trudeau resigns. Conservatives were leading in our polling by as high as 29 points in November, and then suddenly it closes up,” he said. “A couple weeks later, suddenly it’s a tie, and then the Liberals start taking the lead.”

He noted that a one-point difference in the polls could translate into a major difference in seats. A party needs to win at least 172 seats for a majority.

With a projection of 177 seats for the Liberals, “everybody knows a one-point difference could turn into 162 seats and a one-point difference the other way turns into 191 seats.”

Carney campaigned in four different provinces on Sunday but cancelled several planned events and dropped Calgary from his itinerary after a tragic vehicle attack in Vancouver on Saturday.

His campaign style took on a more muted tone on his final day on the campaign trail — shorter speeches, no mention of his rival Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.

Instead, Carney continued attacking the Trump administration’s trade war and calling for Canadians to unite against Trump’s calls for Canada to become a U.S. state.

Following the vehicle attack on a Filipino community event — which claimed 11 lives — Carney’s team agonized about whether it was appropriate to continue campaigning.

Carney ultimately decided to join a crowd of mourners on Sunday near the site of the incident, along with Premier David Eby, Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim and local MLA Mable Elmore. A community member broke out into an impromptu rendition of Amazing Grace and the crowd of mourners soon joined in. None of the politicians spoke throughout the event.

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