Ontario's federal election results map for 2021 is looking almost identical to what we saw emerge after Canada's last national vote in 2019, lending further credence to the assertion of critics that maybe, just maybe, this election wasn't all that necessary.

Results are only preliminary at this point while Elections Canada staff continue to tally up all of the mail-in ballots cast amid a fourth wave of the COVID pandemic, but Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau has safely secured his third term as Prime Minister (albeit with a minority government.)

And that's not all that will remain the same.

Initial numbers for Canada's 44th general election show that the overall number of seats for each party in the House of Commons has remained virtually unchanged: Heading into the race, the Liberals held 155 seats. As of 5:30 a.m. ET on Tuesday morning, the party had either won or is leading in 158 electoral districts on the Elections Canada website.

The Conservative Party of Canada, meanwhile, had a net loss / gain of zero seats, with 119 going into and coming out of the election so far.

The NDP is currently forecast to win 25 seats (up one from 24 heading into the race) while the Block Quebecois has 34 (up from its previous 32) and the Green Party holds stable with two seats.

trudeau unveiling his second minority government #Elxn44 pic.twitter.com/FIBM5T5ljl

— Moira Wyton (@moirawyton) September 21, 2021

Trudeau may be victorious after calling the snap election for September, giving all parties just 36 days to campaign (the shortest period allowed by law,) but it wasn't a cheap endeavour at an estimated cost of $610 million.

Number 44 was, in fact, the most expensive election in Canadian history, according to the CBC, thanks in large part to pandemic safety measures.

So, was it worth it? That depends on who you ask and where you live.

"Trudeau, in power since 2015 and governing with a minority of House of Commons seats since 2019, decided to gamble on an early vote and capitalize on his government's handling of the pandemic...," wrote Reuters in a summary of this year's surprise election.

"Instead, he will end up where he started after an unexpectedly tight election race characterized by a lackluster campaign and voter anger at an election during a pandemic."

While this apparent state of political stasis may apply to Canada as a whole when looking at seats won or lost in 2021, there are specific ridings within the country where voters decided to shake things up.

Looking at the SOUTHERN ONTARIO #Elxn44 maps - and asking the #CDNPoli question = "How do the Conservatives ever become a Party with City-Urban seats again..?"

📈Major-Cities are where ALL the future-growth in NEW seats in the Canadian-Parliament will be over the coming decades. pic.twitter.com/Gv44oPYfIh

— Mark J. Richardson (@mjrichardson_to) September 21, 2021

As of Tuesday morning, preliminary results of show that the Liberal party has either won or is leading in 78 electoral districts across Ontario — down from the 79 seats it won during 2019's election.

Conservatives, meanwhile, gained a seat in Ontario, moving from 36 to 37 seats thanks in part to Conservative candidate Michelle Ferreri's defeat of Liberal cabinet minister Maryam Monsef in Peterborough-Kawartha.

The NDP Party lost one seat, down from six to five in Canada's most-populous province, but the Green Party actually won its first Ontario seat ever.

The Greens will be sending two MPs to the House of Commons this time around — a feat that has happened only once before — though party leader Annamie Paul won't be one of them (her riding of Toronto Centre was won by Liberal Marci Ien.)

Along with former party leader Elizabeth May, who was re-elected in her own B.C. riding, Green candidate Mike Morrice won the Ontario riding of Kitchener Centre for his party.

With 99.07 per cent of polls in Kitchener reporting, Morrice took 34.5 per cent of the vote in Canada's 44th federal election. Conservative Mary Henein Thorn finished second with 24.8 per cent of the vote, while Liberal candidate Raj Saini (who dropped out of the race last-minute amid allegations of sexual assault) finished with 16.1 per cent of voter support.

Sweet to see @OntarioGreens @CanadianGreens showing up on the electoral map of Ontario!

Congratulations, @morricemike! We need your voice in Ottawa! pic.twitter.com/d9KvrlV2xx

— Brett Matthews (@bretthmatthews) September 21, 2021

You can see how all parties fared across different provinces and regions on the Elections Canada website, which currently shows 99.11 per cent of all polls reporting.

Only the Liberals, Conservatives, NDPs and one Green are represented in the House of Commons from Ontario this time around, though thousands of people also voted as independents or supporters of the PPC, Christian Heritage, Marxist-Leninist and Animal Protection parties.

The lowest number of votes went to the "Nationalist" party with 52, followed by the "Marijuana Party" with just 93 votes across all of Ontario.