NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh elected in Burnaby South by-election

Liberals win in Outremont and the Conservatives retain York-Simcoe

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      The leader of the NDP cruised to a relatively easy victory tonight.

      Jagmeet Singh has a solid lead over Liberal Richard T. Lee as of this writing, with Conservative Jay Shin in third place, followed by Laura Lynn Tyler Thompson of the People's Party of Canada.

      This means that Singh will be able to go into the House of Commons and ask questions of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

      "To Burnaby South, thank you for trusting me to be your member of Parliament," Singh said.

      Then he promised to be the residents' "champion" and would fight for them in the House of Commons.

      "Friends, we made history today," Singh said. "You know when I was growing up, I could never have imagined someone like me running for prime minister. Guess what. We just  told a lot of kids out there, 'Yes we can.'"

      Singh largely focused on local issues, including housing and affordability, as well as speaking out against the $9.3-billion Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.

      Tonight, he said that people are working hard but feel like they're falling further and further behind. They also fear what's going to happen to their kids.

      He said that some people are exploiting that fear to create uncertainty about their neighbours.

      The NDP win was offset by the party losing Outremont to Liberal candidate Rachel Bendayan. She has taken the seat previously held by Tom Mulcair, the former NDP leader.

      Conservative candidate Scot Davidson won the other by-election today in York-Simcoe. It was previously held by former Conservative house leader Peter Van Loan.

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