Polls have closed in Quebec and across the country as Canadians headed to the polls on Monday with much attention being paid to whether Quebec voters would put sovereignty on the backburner this federal election in the face of threats from U.S. President Donald Trump.
Ipsos polls conducted for Global News throughout the campaign showed signs the province’s decades-long separatist movement could be replaced as a priority for some by Canadian solidarity.
The Liberals have taken a clear lead in Quebec, but their gains in the province may not be enough to propel them to a majority government.
As of 11:25 p.m., the Liberals were leading or elected in about 41 ridings compared with about 25 for the Bloc Québécois, and had a roughly eight-point lead in the popular vote. The Conservatives were leading or elected in about 11 ridings, and the NDP was elected in one.Global News projects the Liberal Party of Canada under Mark Carney will form the next government. 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.
But nearly two hours after polls closed in Quebec and Ontario, the Liberals were not leading in enough seats nationwide to form a majority government.In the last federal election, the Bloc Québécois and the Liberals split most of Quebec’s 78 seats. Recent polls, however, showed that support for the Bloc had softened, and both the Liberals and Conservatives were expected to gain a few seats.Pollster Sebastien Dallaire told Global News last week it was hard to miss the long shadow Trump was casting north of the border.
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet has been re-elected in his South Shore riding. Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne has also been re-elected, as has Bloc MP Louis Plamondon, the longest-serving current member of the House of Commons. In addition, Bloc candidate Alexis Deschênes, a former journalist and lawyer, prevailed over former Liberal minister Diane Lebouthillier in Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine—Listuguj. The Liberals are leading in about five ridings on Montreal’s South Shore and in the battleground ridings of Trois-Rivières and Shefford — areas being closely watched by political observers.
The campaign was tough for Blanchet, who in recent weeks watched his party lose ground to the Liberals. Some Quebecers told Global News their allegiance shift wasn’t exactly a ringing endorsement of the Liberals, but a calculated move as U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats of tariffs and annexation dominated headlines.Blanchet pivoted his message in the final days of the campaign. He said he believed Carney would be elected the next prime minister, and was trying to convince voters to give him the balance of power in what could be a Liberal minority government.
Blanchet told reporters Monday after a casting a ballot in his Beloeil, Que., riding that from his vantage point, the election evolved from Trump occupying all the space, to worries about Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, to doubts about Carney’s sincerity after he failed to disclose that Trump brought up the 51st state idea with him during a call.
Polls closed across most of Quebec at 9:30 p.m. eastern time.
A record-setting 7.3 million voters took part in advance polls over the Easter weekend.
Canada election: Liberals take lead in Quebec as Trump threat casts shadow over race
