For Democrats in Ottawa, nothing to celebrate as reality sets in

Excited Ottawa residents packed restaurants and bars to watch history unfold Tuesday night, but many found they had little to celebrate asU.S. election results came in.

At Mulligans Golf Bar on Queen Street, visitors hoping to watch on the big screen could barely get a seat at the bar when election coverage started at 8 p.m.

"I was pretty pumped when I walked in," said Clinton supporter and Ottawa resident Neal Quigley. "I didn't know what was going to happen, obviously."

The primarily young crowd thinned out noticeably as the polls closed and Republican candidate Donald Trump began to pull ahead. With such a close race, it wasn't until the early hours of Wednesday morning that he was declared the winner.

"The States has a lot of power andinfluence," Susan Brown said. "It's terrifying that somebody who doesn't care about human rights may become president."

Clinton supporters also made up the majority of the crowd at the Heart and Crown in the ByWard Market, which had all of its TVs tuned to election coverage.The party was organized by Democrats Abroad.

'It feels like the day before the world ends'

As the night went on and more and more states turned Republican red, anxiety levels rose.

Political junkies who had predicted the Democrats would take an early lead and were forced to wait with bated breath.

"It should have been a landslide for the Democrats," Dan Loach said around 10:15 p.m. "It's scary it's this close."

In a nearby booth, Woytek Karwowski was in disbelief. "It feels likethe day before the world ends," he said.

The division thatcharacterized much of the campaign south of the borderalso materialized at the Ottawa bar.

Clinton fan Lisa Wright threw a Trump supporter's hat in the toilet when she saw it carried the Republican's campaign slogan.

"I threw the Trump hat in the toilet because that's where his rhetoric belongs," Wright said.

"It shows how emotional this election is," said the hat's owner Rob Graham as it dripped toilet water.

Embassy party winds down early

More than 500 people attended the U.S. Embassy's viewing party at the Chateau Laurier, including Environment Minister Catherine McKenna and Finance Minister Bill Morneau.

Reporters pelted Morneau with questions as the U.S. dollar dipped on Asian markets and stock markets slammed into reverse. The finance minister refused to comment and staff ushered him out of the room.

The crowd began to thin shortly after 11 p.m. when a winner still hadn't been declared.

In his final statement of the night, U.S. Ambassador Bruce Heyman reiterated for the crowd his belief that the Canada-U.S. relationship would thrive regardless of election outcome.