Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is projected to lose his own seat in the Canadian election, despite delivering the best result for his party since 2011.

Poilievre, a career politician who has held the riding of Carleton in Ottawa for two decades, was defeated by Liberal Bruce Fanjoy, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. projected early Tuesday.

The race was one of the last to be called in the country because of the close battle between the two men, as well as the fact that it was targeted by a protest movement that flooded the ballot with additional candidates.

Even though the Conservative result was better than expected, Poilievre will have to answer for losing the election to Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberals after holding a 20-point polling lead as recently as January.

The 45-year-old Poilievre dominated opinion polls with promises to cut taxes and government spending, while building more homes and improving public safety. His long-time rallying cries of ending the carbon tax and removing Justin Trudeau as prime minister were partly successful — Trudeau resigned earlier this year and Carney ended the controversial consumer part of the tax within hours of taking office.

However the Conservative leader, who previously adopted a “Canada First” slogan echoing the “America First” phrase utilized by Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, struggled to adapt to a new environment where Trump’s threats of tariffs and annexation turned the American president into a top issue of the Canadian campaign.

The defeat does not necessarily mean Poilievre must resign as party leader, but it may make hanging on to his position more challenging.

©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.