Canada Federal election 2019 — Results

Background

The 2019 Canadian federal election, held on 21 October 2019, returned Justin Trudeau's Liberals to power but stripped them of their majority, reducing them to a minority government. The Liberals won 157 of the 338 seats on 33.12% of the vote — notably, fewer votes than the Conservative Party, which won the national popular vote with 34.34% but, with its support heavily concentrated in the West, took only 121 seats. The New Democrats under Jagmeet Singh fell to 24 seats, the Bloc Québécois surged back to 32 under Yves-François Blanchet, the Greens won 3, and the new right-wing People's Party of Canada, led by former Conservative Maxime Bernier, took 1.62% and no seats. Turnout was 67.0%.

The rules of the game

As in every federal election, members were elected by first-past-the-post in 338 single-member ridings, with 170 seats needed for a majority. Because seats, not votes, determine power, a party whose vote is efficiently spread across many ridings can win more seats than a rival that piles up large majorities in fewer regions — exactly what happened to the Liberals and Conservatives respectively. The map shows the party that won the most seats in each province and territory.

Background and campaign

Trudeau entered the campaign weakened. The SNC-Lavalin affair — allegations that his office had improperly pressured the attorney general to help a Quebec engineering firm avoid prosecution — had cost him two senior ministers and dented his ethical brand, and during the campaign decades-old photographs surfaced of Trudeau wearing blackface. The Conservatives under Andrew Scheer attacked the Liberals on affordability, deficits and the federal carbon tax, while climate change, pipelines and the cost of living dominated debate. No party emerged with a commanding case, and the result reflected a country settling into regional camps.

The result and the map

The election laid bare Canada's deepening regional polarisation. The Conservatives ran up enormous margins across the Prairies, winning every seat in Saskatchewan and nearly all of Alberta and shutting the Liberals out of both provinces entirely — a result that fuelled a wave of western-alienation sentiment dubbed "Wexit." The Bloc Québécois roared back to life in Quebec, recovering official party status. The Liberals retained power by holding Ontario, the Atlantic provinces and the big cities. The provincial map therefore shows a Conservative West, a Bloc-and-Liberal Quebec, and a Liberal centre and east.

What followed

Trudeau formed a minority government that had to rely on the support of the NDP or the Bloc to pass legislation and survive confidence votes. The arithmetic shaped the next two years, giving the smaller parties leverage and setting the stage for the snap election Trudeau would call in 2021 in pursuit of the majority that had eluded him.

About the data

Elections Canada — official voting results of the 43rd general election — elections.ca.

Compiled and reviewed from official results by ElectioMap. See our data methodology.