Canada’s incumbent agriculture minister was among the MPs expected to hold onto their seats in Monday’s snap federal election, in which Justin Trudeau’s Liberals return with a second minority government.
As of Tuesday morning just after midnight CT, Marie-Claude Bibeau was leading in her Sherbrooke, Que.-area riding of Compton-Stanstead by a spread of over 3,300 votes over her nearest challenger, Bloc Quebecois candidate Nathalie Bresse, with 273 of 275 polls reporting.
The makeup of the House of Commons is expected to have changed only marginally as a result of Monday’s election.
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Overall, the Liberals were elected or leading late Monday night in 155 of 338 ridings, followed by the Conservatives with 120, the BQ with 33, the New Democrats with 27 and the Greens with two.
By comparison, at the dissolution of Parliament on Aug. 15, the Liberals held 155 seats; the Conservatives, 119; the Bloc, 32; the NDP, 24; and the Greens, two. Five seats were held by independents.
Erin O’Toole’s Conservatives were holding over 34 per cent of the popular vote nationwide, ahead of Trudeau’s Liberals, with just under 32 per cent; Jagmeet Singh’s NDP, with 17.7 per cent; Yves-Francois Blanchet’s BQ, with just under eight per cent; Maxime Bernier’s People’s Party, with just over five per cent; and Annamie Paul’s Greens, with 2.3 per cent.
At least two of the incumbent agriculture critics from the opposition benches are also poised to return to the Commons.
Lianne Rood, the ag critic for the Conservatives, easily held her southwestern Ontario riding of Lambton-Kent-Middlesex by a spread of more than 16,400 votes over Liberal challenger Sudit Ranade with 243 of 245 polls reporting.
Alistair MacGregor, the NDP’s ag critic, also held his British Columbia riding of Cowichan-Malahat-Langford, by a spread of more than 7,200 votes over Conservative challenger Alana DeLong, with 237 of 250 polls reporting.
BQ ag critic Yves Perron, meanwhile, appeared to be pulling ahead late Monday in a tight race in his Trois-Rivieres-area riding of Berthier-Maskinonge.
Perron faced a relatively strong challenge from a previous MP for the riding — Ruth Ellen Brosseau, a former House leader and former agriculture critic for the NDP. Perron had been trailing for part of the evening but was ahead of Brosseau late Monday by a spread of just over 900 votes with 270 of 274 polls reporting.
Trudeau’s cabinet table is expected to see some losses, including Peterborough MP Maryam Monsef, the minister for rural economic development; southern Ontario MP Deb Schulte, minister for seniors; and Nova Scotia MP Bernadette Jordan, minister for fisheries and oceans, who were trailing in their ridings late Monday.
The House of Commons is scheduled to resume sitting Oct. 18. — Glacier FarmMedia Network
