Prime Minister Mark Carney had asked for a strong mandate to help him handle US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and annexation threat but CBC said the Liberals had not yet secured the 172 electoral districts, known as seats, they needed for a majority.

The result might not be known for some time and could depend on the westernmost province of British Columbia, where polls closed last.

Carney had promised a tough approach with Washington over its tariffs and said Canada would need to spend billions to reduce its reliance on the US.

But the right-of-centre Conservatives, who called for change after more than nine years of Liberal rule, showed unexpected strength.

The House has 343 seats and if Carney only captures a minority, he will have to negotiate with other parties to stay in power.

Minority governments in Canada rarely last longer than 2-1/2 years.

The result, though, capped a notable comeback for the Liberals, who had been 20 points behind in the polls in January before unpopular former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced he was quitting and Trump started threatening tariffs and annexation.

The last party to win four consecutive elections in Canada was the Liberals, in 2004.

The result was a huge defeat for Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, who focused his campaign on domestic issues and the need to fix a country the Liberals had “broken”.

Neither the Carney nor Poilievre camp was immediately available for reaction to the CTV forecast.