British Columbians are waking up to a shift in the province's federal political landscape after last night's election saw both the Liberals and NDP pick up seats from the Conservatives.

The Conservatives had hoped to make inroads in some of the battleground ridings around Metro Vancouver but instead saw their 17 seat lead drop by four.

Meanwhile, incumbent candidates from all three parties will be returning to Parliament, including cabinet ministers Harjit Sajjan, Carla Qualtrough and Jonathan Wilkinson.

NDP leader Jagmeet Singh held onto his Burnaby South seat, former Green Party leader Elizabeth May won re-election in Saanich-Gulf Islands, but Green member Paul Manley lost his Nanaimo seat.

May says she's pleased with the projected federal Liberal minority government and hopeful the Greens will continue to play a role in the new Parliament.

Stewart Prest, a political scientist with Simon Fraser University, says the results suggest B-C is a microcosm of a country that is divided.

He says there are pockets of the province where each party can do well but it seems very difficult for any party to break through definitively beyond those boundaries.