Two new solitudes — rural and urban — now define the Canadian political landscape

According to Elections Canada, the metropolitan areas of Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver — the country’s three biggest cities — account for 116 of Canada’s 338 ridings. And the results in those ridings help to tell the story of both the Liberal victory and a fundamental split in federal politics.

Of those 116 ridings, the Liberals won 86 — more than half of their national total. The Conservatives won just eight.

That Liberal strength in cities is part of an urban-rural split that now defines the electoral map in Canada. New research suggests the urban-rural divide between the Liberal and Conservative parties has never been wider.