National News

Communal grief following the ramming attack at a Filipino festival in Vancouver that killed 11 people on the weekend will likely persist for months, mental health experts in British Columbia warn. 

"Traumatic events, grief, is not something that is resolved in a week or two weeks, or a couple of months," said Heather Mohan, a clinical counsellor and executive director of the charity Lumara Grief and Bereavement Care Society.

Some Conservative MPs are expressing support for party leader Pierre Poilievre after he lost both the federal election and his own seat on Monday.

In his concession speech early Tuesday morning, Poilievre indicated he would stay on as leader. The Conservative party did not respond when asked Wednesday whether he has officially decided to stay.

"My view is he's not going anywhere," said Kory Teneycke, Ontario Premier Doug Ford's former campaign manager and a former director of communications for former prime minister Stephen Harper.

A group trying to make a case for electoral reform by creating very long ballots is declaring victory in this week's election — even as critics accuse it of indulging in stunts that undermine democracy.

"It's been a success," said Mark Moutter, one of dozens of protest candidates who ran in the Ottawa riding of Carleton.

"I've never seen people looking more optimistically at electoral reform, ever."

The Liberals rose from the ashes under Prime Minister Mark Carney in a stunning reversal of fortunes this year, but the party's failure to sweep many of the ridings it sought Monday night denied it a resounding majority mandate.

A big part of that failure happened in Ontario, where the party lost many incumbents — even as Carney called for a strong mandate to deal with the threat posed by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Elections Canada says more than 68 per cent of eligible voters cast a ballot in the federal election — more than 19.5 million people.

While this election was widely expected to see increased turnout, it did not surpass the record set in March 1958, when 79.4 per cent of eligible Canadians voted.

But the nearly 68.7 per cent turnout was the best since the 1993 federal election, which saw 69.6 per cent of eligible voters cast a ballot.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre will not have a seat in the next Parliament, after a stunning upset by Liberal candidate Bruce Fanjoy in the riding of Carleton. 

Poilievre's loss raises a host of questions about his ability to continue with the Conservative party leadership, and the role he will play as the House of Commons reconvenes. 

In his concession speech on election night, Poilievre pledged that Conservatives will "do our constitutional duty of holding government to account and proposing better alternatives." 

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?"

Prime Minister Mark Carney will lead a minority government after a very close general election race that left the Liberals just three seats shy of a majority. 

Just before 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Elections Canada showed the Liberals projected to win 169 ridings after flipping one riding in Quebec from the Bloc Québécois earlier in the day. 

The Conservatives won 144 seats and will form the official Opposition again. The Bloc Québécois followed with 22 seats, the NDP with seven projected seats and the Green Party with one seat.

Jagmeet Singh says he will step down as the leader of the NDP as soon as a new interim leader is chosen.

Singh conceded defeat in his British Columbia riding of Burnaby Central and the party is at risk of losing official party status.

With the NDP at risk of losing official party status — and after losing his own riding — Singh said he'd be stepping down as 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.

The Canadian Press decision desk is projecting a Liberal government following a short, intense and heated federal election campaign.

As of 10:22 p.m. EDT, the Liberals had received 50 per cent of the popular vote while the Tories held 39 per cent.

Preliminary results for 43 ridings show the Liberals taking 28 seats and the Conservatives holding 21, with the Bloc Québécois holding four seats.

The last polls in British Columbia and Yukon closed at 10 p.m. EDT, following the Prairies and the other territories half an hour earlier.