Elections Canada resumes vote counting with majority still in question

The shape of the next Liberal government is becoming clearer as ballot counting continues after a historic election day in Canada.

Canadians still won’t know until later Tuesday whether Mark Carney’s Liberals have won a majority or minority mandate from voters.

Elections Canada decided early Tuesday morning to pause the marathon counting of special ballots with a handful of ridings remain too close to call.

Special ballots are cast by mail or at Elections Canada offices by voters away from their ridings during the election.

The counting resumed at 9:30 a.m. ET on Tuesday.

“We understand the importance of having timely results after polls close. As a result of the high participation rate in this election, particularly by special ballot and at advance polls, more time was needed to count ballots and report results,” an Elections Canada spokesperson tells CityNews.

“To help ensure the accuracy of the counts, at around 5 a.m. [ET] after election night, the counting of special ballots at our facility in Ottawa was paused to give counters and scrutineers a break. We anticipate having all ballots counted and results reported later [Tuesday].”

Voters returned Carney and the Liberals to power on Monday night, but there were a large number of advanced votes and counting stretched on until early Tuesday morning.

Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre was defeated by Liberal candidate Bruce Fanjoy in his Ottawa-area riding of Carleton, ending Poilievre’s long tenure as MP in that riding.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, who lost his Vancouver-area riding, announced he will step down once an interim leader is chosen.

With files from Lucas Casaletto of CityNews