Monday’s vote produced a Liberal minority government and a House of Commons sharply divided along regional lines. Although the Liberals won a relatively large plurality of seats, similar to the haul of Harper Conservatives in the 2008 election, minority governments, historically, have short shelf lives.

The longest federal minority government in Canadian history, measured from the return of the writs to the dissolution of the House, was the one that presided over Harper’s Conservatives after the 2006 election and clocked in at just over two and a half years. It’s also worth noting that then-prime minister Stephen Harper dissolved the House in Sept. 2008 on his own volition, arguing that he couldn’t govern in such a fractious Parliament, though it’s more likely that he saw some positive polling for his party and the relative weakness of the federal Liberals.

In any case, with the threat of another election always present, iPolitics has compiled a list of the six closest races from Monday’s vote, in hopes of deducing what the major battlegrounds will be once this upcoming House dissolves.

READ MORE: Trudeau’s Liberals set to form minority government

Yukon

Margin of victory: 72 votes or 0.3 percentage points

Liberal incumbent Larry Bagnell narrowly retained his Yukon riding, pushing back against Conservative candidate Jonas Jacot Smith, while the NDP’s Justin Lemphers finished a strong third.

While Yukon, Canada’s sprawling and westernmost northern territory, is hardly the first riding that is conjured up when discussing battlegrounds, it has a propensity for nail-biter races, with Bagnell losing his re-election bid in 2011 to Conservative Ryan Leef by just over 130 voters. Bagnell, though, comfortably won the rematch with Leef in 2015.

Like the other two northern territories, Yukon will also be a tough race to predict as polling is scarce to nonexistent and it has some 40,000 people spread out across a land mass roughly the size of Spain.

READ MORE: Here’s how the parties fared in Canada’s major cities

Quebec

Margin of victory: 215 votes or 0.4 percentage points

The Bloc’s rise was expected to lead to a bunch of close three-way or even four-way races in the Quebec City area, which is the traditional power base for the Conservatives in the province but also home to two Liberal-held seats.

In the city’s central-most riding, known simply as Quebec, the Conservatives may not be seen as terribly strong, though Liberal incumbent and Families, Children and Social Development Minister Jean-Yves Duclos was hardly seen as a lock to win re-election. After all, Duclos only won the riding in 2015 with just under 29 per cent of the vote, just less than two points from the NDP incumbent Annick Papillon. It was a margin of 1,000 votes.

It was somehow even closer for Duclos this time around, though he still eked out the victory, taking the riding by 215 votes over the Bloc’s Christiane Gagnon. Despite the closer race, Duclos’ share of the vote managed to jump to 33.2 per cent (Gagnon took 32.8 per cent of the ballots cast). Conservative Bianca Boutin finished third with 15 per cent, followed by the NDP’s Tommy Bureau, who took 11.4 per cent.

Kitchener-Conestoga

Margin of victory: 273 votes or 0.5 percentage points

Liberal Tim Louis managed to flip this Kitchener-Waterloo area riding from longtime Conservative incumbent Harold Albrecht, who had held the seat for the past 14 years. Albrecht only fended off Louis in 2015 by 0.53 points, so it was expected to be a close race this year. And it definitely fit the bill.

Louis, who welcomed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to his riding during the campaign, beat Albrecht by only 273 votes (or by a 39.6 to 39.1 per cent margin). With the win, all four of the ridings in the Waterloo Region are Liberal.

Hochelaga

Margin of victory: 319 votes or 0.6 percentage points

This riding in Montreal’s east end was expected to be a closely fought one from the moment the writs were issued. The Liberals, buoyed by strong pre-election polls, were confident they could flip the riding from the fading NDP, with incumbent Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet not seeking re-election. In 2015, the Liberals came just under one percentage point from turning the riding red. But even with the Bloc struggling in that vote, the separatist party put up a decent fight in Hochelaga, coming only three points or so away from winning. This section of Montreal, which is more francophone and working class than the relatively more affluent and English west end, is a traditional stronghold for the Bloc.

READ MORE: Conservatives gain seats in B.C. as Liberals stumble

So when the polls shifted midway through this year’s campaign and the Bloc picked up considerable support across Quebec, the stage appeared set for a close fight in Hochelaga. But despite the Bloc’s resurgence, the party couldn’t reclaim any lost ground on the Island of Montreal, with Liberal candidate Soraya Martinez Ferrada winning in Hochelaga by 319 votes over the Bloc’s Simon Marchand.

Port Moody—Coquitlam

Margin of victory: 333 votes or 0.6 percentage points

The Lower Mainland region of B.C. is notorious for producing extremely close races. This is largely the result of having the Liberals, Conservatives and NDP in contention in so many different ridings in the region. As you’d expect, 2019 was no different.

Excluding the Abbotsford and Mission ridings, the Liberals won 11 seats in the region, while the Conservatives took seven, the NDP won four and Independent Jody Wilson-Raybould won re-election in Vancouver Granville.

True to form, one of the closest races in the region, as well as the country, was a three-way tilt in Port Moody-Coquitlam, with Nelly Shin flipping the riding from NDP orange to Conservative blue by only 333 votes, winning 31.3 per cent, less than a third of all ballots cast. NDP candidate Bonita Zarrillo, who was looking to succeed retiring NDP MP Finn Donnelly in the riding, finished a strong second with 30.7 per cent of the vote, while Liberal Sara Badiei was close behind at 29.1 per cent.

Expect this seat to be seen as a major battleground come the next election.

Coquitlam—Port Coquitlam

Margin of victory: 339 votes or 0.6 percentage points

Both Coquitlam ridings were absolute nail-biters on Monday night. Liberal Ron McKinnon narrowly won re-election in this Greater Vancouver riding with 34.6 per cent of the vote, while Conservative Nichols Insley fell just short, grabbing 34 per cent. The NDP’s Christina Gower finished a strong third with 23.1 per cent of the vote.

Much like its neighbour, this riding should draw a lot of attention from the major parties and pundits in the run-up to the next election.

READ MORE: Bloc emerges as third party in House of Commons, blocking Liberal majority

*This story has been updated with to include a different close riding in the sixth position.