Bloc beats Trudeau Liberals in Montreal byelection, NDP holds on to Manitoba seat

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been handed his second byelection upset in recent months, as the Bloc Quebecois won LaSalle-Emard-Verdun, Que., a longtime Liberal seat in Montreal.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been handed his second byelection upset in recent months, as the Bloc Québécois has just won LaSalle-Émard-Verdun, Que., a longtime Liberal seat in Montreal.

It was a better night for the parties that hold the balance of power in the current minority Parliament.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh managed to narrowly hold on to the NDP stronghold of Elmwood Transcona, Man., squashing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s only real hope in these pair of races of picking up another riding.

After the shocking June loss to the Conservatives in the safe Liberal seat of Toronto-St. Paul’s prompted a wave of calls for Trudeau’s resignation and left some in his caucus uneasy about their electoral futures, the overnight defeat in Quebec is set to be the talk of Parliament Hill Tuesday.

Speaking about his party’s prospect of being the Liberals’ new minority dance partner, Bloc Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet told reporters Monday that he was “as hurried and impatient as anybody to go into an election,” as their “numbers seem pretty good.”

How the byelection victories for the Bloc and NDP impact their desire to help keep the embattled Liberals afloat or rather help trigger an early election will also be something to watch.

Vote-counting in the southwest Montreal riding went through the night and into the early morning hours on Tuesday due to each ballot being nearly a metre long.