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Going into the election, there were some topics that Canadians were watching closely. Would any candidate’s star power push them forward? Is populism on the rise in the country? Here are some of the highlights from the night, and a look at who some of the winners and losers were on the big issues.

Loser: Populism

Maxime Bernier founded the People’s Party of Canada last year after losing the 2017 Conservative Party leadership to Andrew Scheer, then resigning from the party.

Calling his long-time political home “intellectually and morally corrupt,” the former industry minister put right-wing spins on cultural issues at the heart of his new party’s message, calling for an end to “extreme multiculturalism.”

He and his party failed to make an imprint in this election. Mr. Bernier even lost his seat in Beauce.

Winner: Star power

Fresh blood trumped political experience in the battleground Toronto-area riding of Milton.

Lisa Raitt, a former cabinet minister in Stephen Harper’s government and MP for the riding since 2008, fell to a strong challenge from political newcomer Adam van Koeverden. The Liberal candidate had no trouble with name recognition, though, as a former Olympic flag bearer and gold medallist kayaker with a street named after him in neighbouring Oakville.

During the campaign Ms. Raitt leaned on her years in the trenches (former minister of transport and current deputy Conservative leader) and her ties to the Toronto suburb, where she has raised her children.

But the newcomer’s star power seems to have helped put him over the top.

Loser/Winner: Independents

Jane Philpott was a casualty of the SNC-Lavalin affair. She resigned from cabinet in March to support her friend and colleague, Jody Wilson-Raybould, and was then kicked out of the Liberal caucus for saying she lacked confidence in the government’s handling of the scandal. Both women ran as independents, but only Ms. Wilson-Raybould pulled off a win.

Dr. Philpott, who served as minister of health and Indigenous services before a brief stint as president of the Treasury Board, told her volunteers late Monday night that they ran a campaign based on optimism. "We believe politics can be better, it can be more collaborative, more inclusive and more creative," she said.

"Here in Markham-Stouffville we have unleashed a desire for change," she told a crowded room of supporters at a civic centre in the riding. "There are skeptics tonight and there will always be skeptics who think that it's not possible to change politics. I hope over time that we can get some of those skeptics to be free from the prison of the status quo."

Liberal stalwart Helena Jaczek, a former Ontario MPP and provincial health minister, won the riding as part of a broader red sweep of the GTA.

ELECTION RESULTS 2015 VS. 2019,

TORONTO AREA

2015

Markham

Vaughan

Brampton

Pickering

Toronto

Mississauga

2019

Markham

Vaughan

Brampton

Pickering

Toronto

Mississauga

ELECTION RESULTS 2015 VS. 2019, TORONTO AREA

2015

Markham

Vaughan

Brampton

Pickering

Toronto

Mississauga

2019

Markham

Vaughan

Brampton

Pickering

Toronto

Mississauga

ELECTION RESULTS 2015 VS. 2019, TORONTO AREA

2015

2019

Markham

Markham

Vaughan

Vaughan

Brampton

Brampton

Pickering

Pickering

Toronto

Toronto

Mississauga

Mississauga

Winner: Environmentalism

The Greens had high hopes going into this campaign, with climate change prominent on the national agenda and the NDP looking rudderless. Leader Elizabeth May even mused about holding the balance of power in a minority government situation (as the Greens do in the B.C. Legislature).

Green support peaked in late September, according to the Nanos-Globe-CTV tracking poll, before Jagmeet Singh and the NDP rebounded. Still, the race has boosted the party’s profile to unprecedented heights, aided by a global climate strike that coincided with the campaign. What’s more, Jenica Atwin, a researcher for a First Nations education organization, won the riding of Fredericton, the party’s first pick-up in Atlantic Canada.

Loser: The Orange Wave

The Orange Wave had already largely rolled out by election night. Ruth Ellen Brosseau, the MP for Berthier-Maskinongé, was already a rare vestige of the NDP surge that gave the party 59 of Quebec’s 75 seats in 2011.

As a largely unilingual anglophone and bartender who was vacationing in Las Vegas at the time of the election, Ms. Brosseau was the most vivid symbol of the party’s disorienting breakthrough in the province. But the single mother was a surprise star performer in the Commons and in her riding, where she mastered French and became well versed on agricultural issues.

Her party’s fortunes in Quebec have plummeted, though. The NDP salvaged 16 seats in the province in 2015, but Mr. Singh, a turban-wearing Sikh, faced headwinds in a province where such religious clothing has become politically contentious.

Ms. Brosseau was defeated in a close race Monday night.

ELECTION RESULTS 2015 VS. 2019,

MONTREAL AREA

2015

Laval

Montreal

2019

Laval

Montreal

ELECTION RESULTS 2015 VS. 2019, MONTREAL AREA

2015

Laval

Montreal

2019

Laval

Montreal

ELECTION RESULTS 2015 VS. 2019, MONTREAL AREA

2015

2019

Laval

Laval

Montreal

Montreal

The NDP fell to fourth place after the 2019 election, but party leader Jagmeet Singh was upbeat as he delivered a speech in his home riding in Burnaby, B.C. He listed some of the priorities the party will work towards completing — along with the other parties, if they're willing.

With files from Karen Howlett

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