NDP declares victory in federal by-election in Winnipeg, Conservatives admit defeat

The New Democrats declared victory late Monday in the federal by-election in their strong Elmwood-Transcona constituency in Winnipeg.

Meanwhile, in the race for the by-election in Montreal's LaSalle-Emard-Verdun constituency, the NDP, Liberals and Bloc Québécois remained locked in an extremely close three-way battle, with results trickling in slowly.

“We don't know the final result today, but I'm confident,” NDP candidate for Winnipeg Leila Dance told her supporters in a tearful speech on Monday evening.

“I promise to make you all very proud of me and see you in Ottawa.”

With the results of several polls still pending, Conservative candidate Colin Reynolds conceded defeat and told his volunteers they could be proud of the Conservatives' performance in the campaign.

While by-elections on Parliament Hill are not usually given much importance, the votes in Winnipeg and Montreal are seen as harbingers of political change in Canada.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh wants to overtake the Liberals and position himself as the only viable, progressive alternative to Pierre Poilievre's Conservatives.

Political observers watched the outcome closely to see whether the Tories could win over traditional NDP voters on issues such as jobs and affordability.

The New Democrats are not normally among the contenders in Montreal's LaSalle-Emard-Verdun constituency, but their candidate Craig Sauve was in a neck-and-neck race with the Liberals and the Bloc for first place all evening.

“Now that the results are in, we are confident of winning here,” Sauve said on Monday evening in front of a packed room with his supporters.

“If not, one thing is certain: If the NDP is competitive in Montreal, we will win seats in Montreal, we will have great candidates in Montreal and Montrealers will see more NDP MPs in the next election.”

The bloc also took heart from the close race when the votes were counted on Monday. The party's deputy parliamentary group leader in the House of Representatives, Christine Normandin, said that at the start of the election campaign, no one had expected the bloc to do so well in the long-standing Liberal stronghold.

“Whatever the outcome of the election campaign, we had nothing to lose, we could only win,” she said.

“Given that it's a close race tonight, it's a win for us in itself. And it shows there's support for what the bloc is doing and the issues we're bringing to the House of Commons.”

Meanwhile, Liberal candidate Laura Palestini gave a speech thanking her volunteers just over an hour after polls closed; early results showed her in a distant third place.

“Thanks to your efforts, our message has been heard,” she said in French at a Liberal gathering at the Dilallo Burger, a Ville-Emard institution that dates back to 1929.

“Maybe tomorrow morning we'll find out what the people of LaSalle-Emard-Verdun want as their representative.”

She left shortly afterwards.

The bloc's candidate, Louis-Philippe Sauve, returned to his campaign party around 1 a.m. to give a speech to a crowd of enthusiastic supporters, as the result had shown a neck-and-neck race between him and Palestini.

Montreal resident Graham Juneau said he and many of his friends were “relatively uninterested” despite all the campaign work.

He decided not to vote for anyone to make a statement against the “lack of trust in Canada’s political establishment.”

“At least among my colleagues, there was no great enthusiasm for either party,” he said.

Liberal ministers have visited the area several times as the party worked hard to retain the constituency it has held for decades.

The stakes are particularly high for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who faced calls to resign last June when the Conservatives won a seat in a Liberal stronghold in a Toronto by-election.

The defeat sent shockwaves through the governing party, and the Liberals were confronted with the harsh reality of falling poll ratings.

Singh took a political risk when he signed a pact with Trudeau in 2022 to avoid an early election in return for progress on NDP priorities.

While the deal resulted in a national dental care program, a law banning surrogate workers, and a bill to underpin a future pharmaceutical care program, the results were not reflected in better polls.

Singh had withdrawn from this agreement a few weeks ago in order to distance his party from the Liberals and make the next election a head-to-head race between him and the conservative party leader Pierre Poilievre.

Elections Canada warned on social media on Monday evening that the counting of results in the Montreal constituency could take longer than usual due to the record number of candidates.

There are 91 names on the ballot, making it the longest list in federal election history. Most of them belong to a group protesting against the majority voting system in Canada.

“Results will be available tonight or tomorrow morning. Thank you for your patience,” Elections Canada said on Monday on X.