Jagmeet Singh will once again represent Burnaby South in Ottawa after being the projected winner in the riding during last night's federal election.
According to preliminary numbers from Elections Canada, the NDP leader garnered 39.8% of the overall vote while receiving 15,041 votes overall.
Liberal candidate Brea Sami is in second place after receiving 11,560 votes and 30.6% of the overall vote.
Singh met with reporters in Vancouver this morning (Sept. 21) to discuss the party's performance during the election that saw Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party of Canada secure another minority government.
"Yesterday (Sept. 20), I talked about [how] I wanted Canadians to make sure Canadians knew we're going to keep fighting for them and I wanted that to be really clear, that we're going to keep fighting for the things that people need," he said.
"We heard a lot of things over this campaign. There are a lot of needs out there and we're going to keep on fighting for people and I wanted that to be really clear."
As of publication, the NDP has only gained one more seat from the 2019 election, where they finished with 24.
Despite not seeing a larger increase, Singh said he was happy with how his campaign was run and what the party was able to accomplish.
"I'm really proud that we were able to use the resources and time that we had to hear from people and more importantly, to share their stories," he explained.
"The fact that we were able to take a national campaign and highlight the plight of a lot of people. We were able to talk to people in Alberta, who are right now at the brink. We met ICU nurses that were in tears about how horrible things are in healthcare because of cuts to health care and how important it is for us to fight for health care, to fight for those workers, to fight for people so that they can get the care they need.
"I'm proud that we were able to run a campaign that lifted up people from coast to coast to coast. We were able to share stories and to fight for what people care about and to hear from them. That's something I'll never regret."
As any leader of a political party that failed to be successful during an election, Singh was asked about his future as leader of the party, specifically if he felt secure in his leadership.
He had a simple answer: "Yes."
Singh and the NDP are in the exact same position they were before the election was called. They will play a role in which they potentially hold the balance of power and will work with Trudeau and the Liberals to help Canadians.
He said he and Trudeau spoke last night after the initial results came in.
"I let him [Trudeau] know as always when it comes to helping out people, we're going to be there," Singh said. "If it's something that's going to help people out, make people's lives better, we will not hesitate to provide support to get things done.
"He knows my priorities. I just made it clear that like before, if it's something around anything we've promised to deliver on pharmacare, we will work to make that happen. Child care, of course, we care deeply about. We've long fought for making sure women, families have access to affordable and accessible child care. It's fundamental and really important, so of course, we can be counted on for things that are going to help people out, for always being there.
"In terms of our position, we're in the same position we were before and we were in a great position to fight for Canadians and we'll do that again."
Current Elections data shows 190 out of 191 polls reporting in Burnaby South, but also a poor voter turnout.
Out of the 75,964 eligible voters in the riding, just 37,806 cast a ballot.
