13 Manitoba incumbents keep seats, 1 riding still too close to call

This year's federal election has shaped up to be more of a remake than a sequel to the 2019 race, as the Liberals and New Democrats have largely taken Winnipeg and most of the rural ridings have again gone Tory blue.

Thirteen incumbents won re-election in Manitoba's 14 ridings, with three NDP, four Liberals and six Conservatives headed back to their seats in Parliament.

The 14th riding hasn't been decided yet.

As of 7 a.m. Tuesday, only 109 votes separated Conservative incumbent Marty Morantz from Liberal Doug Eyolfson in the Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia-Headingley riding in west Winnipeg with 169 of 170 polls reporting.

"We don't know how this race has concluded yet, but we know this is a good night for Canadians," Eyolfson told supporters shortly after 11 p.m. Monday, referring to Justin Trudeau's Liberals retaining power nationally with another minority government.

Not much change to Manitoba's politcal map

3 years ago

Duration 2:39

This year's federal election has shaped up to be more of a remake than a sequel to the 2019 race, as the Liberals and New Democrats have largely taken Winnipeg and most of the rural ridings have again gone Tory blue.

Morantz said everyone anticipated his riding would see a tight race, noting thousands of mail-in ballots remain to be counted, and he preferred to wait until that was done before making further comment.

 A campaign official for Morantz said that will begin at 9 a.m. Tuesday.

Liberal incumbent Jim Carr, who won his third straight election in Winnipeg South Centre against Conservative Joyce Bateman, said he does not think the result will impact Trudeau's ability to stay on as Liberal leader and prime minister.

"I think that he'll have the full confidence," Carr said of Trudeau. "To be able to come back and win re-election from a very, very tough time and a difficult campaign is a tribute to him and his ability to campaign."

Conservative incumbents James Bezan (Selkirk-Interlake-Eastman), Candice Bergen (Portage-Lisgar), Ted Falk (Provencher), Dan Mazier (Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa), Raquel Dancho (Kildonan-St. Paul) and Larry Maguire (Brandon-Souris) all won re-election in their ridings, CBC News projected.

In addition to Carr, Liberal winners were incumbents Kevin Lamoureux (Winnipeg North), Terry Duguid (Winnipeg South) and Dan Vandal (Saint Boniface-Saint Vital).

NDP incumbents Leah Gazan (Winnipeg Centre) and Daniel Blaikie (Elmwood-Transcona) kept their Winnipeg seats. NDP incumbent Niki Ashton again bucked the Tories' rural trend to retake her riding of Churchill-Keewatinook Aski in the north.

"We ran a strong, positive campaign and I feel very privileged that I get to serve a community that I adore once again," said Gazan. "We have a lot of work to do."

WATCH | NDP's Daniel Blaikie thanks voters:

Manitoba incumbent thanks voters despite tech issues

3 years ago

Duration 0:48

Daniel Blaikie, the NDP incumbent in Winnipeg's Elmwood-Transcona riding, didn't let audio issues stop him from thanking voters for re-electing him. He wrote a message on paper and then held it up during his celebration via a video call. He was among several candidates who chose video calls instead of in-person celebrations due to the pandemic.

In Brandon-Souris, Maguire said the Liberals' return to power wasn't the outcome he hoped for but he was glad to spend the past several weeks on the road and meet with his constituents.

"I still want to represent Brandon-Souris and do a good job here, and so I'm very excited about the fact that we get an opportunity to do that here."

Different look, similar outcome

The pandemic election comes two years after the last federal election. Voting this time around looked a little different from usual.

Voters in some ridings earlier in the day reported a quick and easy voting experience. That wasn't the case everywhere, though.

WATCH | Liberals' Vandal on why federal election was called:

Liberal candidate Dan Vandal on why federal election was called

3 years ago

Duration 0:43

Liberal candidate Dan Vandal says this year's election was an important opportunity for Canadians to weigh in on key issues.

Roughly 20 minutes after polls closed in Manitoba at 8:30 p.m. CT, a line of voters still wrapped around the Fort Garry Curling Club in Winnipeg's Saint Boniface-Saint Vital riding.

Elections Canada was forced to find some non-traditional sites for polling stations this year — including Winnipeg's Ikea store and the Assiniboia Downs race track — as schools were off the table due to the prospect of voters crossing paths with unvaccinated children. 

Greeters at the doors of polling stations provided hand sanitizer and reminded voters to put on their masks before entering. 

Supporters of Kevin Lamoureux, the Liberal incumbent in the Winnipeg North riding, had to be fully vaccinated to get into his campaign headquarters for the evening.

A record number of Manitobans got voting out of the way in advance of election day: turnout at advance polls, which were open from Sept. 10-13, was up 57 per cent over 2019, Elections Canada said.

The number of Manitobans voting by mail-in ballots was also up.

In 2019, about 55,000 Canadians chose to mail in their ballots — the majority of whom were living outside of Canada. Only about 5,000 mail-in kits went to people voting from within their riding that year.

This year, more than 38,000 people in Manitoba alone requested mail-in voter kits, according to Elections Canada. Nearly 80 per cent of those kits went to people living in the riding.

Because they have to go through verifications, including ensuring those who voted by mail didn't vote in person on election day, Elections Canada says hundreds of thousands of mail-in ballots won't get counted until Tuesday.