BREAKING: CBC projects a Liberal minority government

CBC News is projecting that Justin Trudeau’s Liberals will form a minority government. The Liberals look set to take most of the seats in Atlantic Canada — a region the party swept in 2015 — with polls in Ontario, Quebec and the Prairies now reporting.

According to the report, The Liberals are keeping six of seven seats in Newfoundland and Labrador but are losing St. John’s East to the NDP’s Jack Harris. All four seats on Prince Edward Island are also expected to be won by the Liberals.

CBC is projecting that the Liberals also will hold on to the seats of three high-profile MPs in New Brunswick, P.E.I. and Nova Scotia. Lawrence MacAulay will retain his seat in Cardigan, P.E.I., Dominic LeBlanc will keep his seat in Beauséjour and Geoff Regan will retain Halifax West, according to CBC’s projections.

CBC News is projecting that the Conservatives will win at least four seats in the maritimes including New Brunswick Southwest, where John Williamson, who was defeated in that riding in 2015, looks set to return to Ottawa to join the Conservative caucus.

Conservative Rob Moore is also projected to take Fundy Royal. In 2015, the Liberals swept all 32 seats in the four Atlantic provinces. Results for Thunder Bay – Rainy River are delayed by one hour. Voters were notified to vote between 9:30 am and 9:30 pm local time, despite the fact that the electoral district has two time zones (Eastern and Central). Results will be released for the riding at 10:30 Eastern.

Polls will close in Quebec, Ontario and the Prairies at 9:30. p.m. ET. Elections Canada says roughly 27.4 million people are eligible to vote at one of the approximately 20,000 polling places across the country. While most voters will cast their ballots today, around 4.7 million Canadians did so in advance polls last weekend — a 29 per cent increase over 2015.

The first ballots were cast at 8:30 a.m. local time in Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick, and the last will be cast at 7 p.m. PT (10 p.m. ET) in British Columbia. There were 55,515 Canadian expats registered to vote, and a final tally shows 31,798 — a record number — have marked ballots.

In Quebec, three party leaders have cast their votes and are waiting to hear results. Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau is running in the Papineau riding in Montreal, Yves-François Blanchet of the Bloc Québécois is also in the Montreal area, in Beloeil-Chambly, and People’s Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier is in Beauceville, southeast of Quebec City.

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer is running in Regina-Qu’Appelle and his headquarters are in Regina. Scheer cast his vote at 6:30 p.m. ET. The other two major party leaders have ridings in British Columbia: the NDP’s Jagmeet Singh in Burnaby South and the Green Party’s Elizabeth May in Saanich-Gulf Islands. Singh voted in advance on Oct. 13; May voted in her riding before heading back to party headquarters in Victoria.