MaryAnn Mihychuk takes Kildonan-St. Paul for Liberals

Voters in Manitoba's Kildonan-St. Paul riding have elected Liberal MaryAnn Mihychuk as their new member of Parliament, CBC News has declared.

With 194 out of 195 polls reporting, Mihychuk a former provincial NDP cabinet minister secured 42.7 per cent of the vote, while Conservative candidate Jim Bell had 39.9 per cent.

They were followed by the NDP's Suzanne Hrynyk with 14.3 per cent of the vote and Steven Stairs of the Green Party with just under two per cent.

"I'm feeling really elated and so proud that the team did it,"Mihychuksaid at her campaign headquarters Monday night.

"Kildonan-St.Paul was looking for change, and they could see that I was going to bring it with JustinTrudeau. It's just incredible."

Bell waited until all the poll results came in late Monday nightbefore congratulating Mihychuk on her win.

"MaryAnn, to her credit, has been campaigning for longer;perhaps thatpaid some dividends. All I know is that we gave it every effort as agroup, as a team," Bell said.

"I'm not going tosecond-guess.I'm just going togivecredit where it's due."

Bell,a former president of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers,said he hasn't thought about what he'll do next, as all his recent efforts were focused on the election campaign.

"In the next day we will regroup, as they say, and see what might be next," he said. "Just being engaged again with the community is something that just lights the fire within me."

Conservative Joy Smith, who had represented Kildonan-St. Paul since 2004, announced in January that she would not seek re-election.

Her departure opened up a race between Bell, Hrynyk, Mihychuk,Stairs,David Reimer of the Christian Heritage Party and Independent candidate Eduard Walter Hiebert.

"This is a riding that we haven't seen a whole lot of strength for the Liberals for the past two elections,and so it was really a challenge,so we are all so excited," Mihychuk said.

• Read more about the Kildonan-St. Paul candidates here

In 2011, Smith was re-elected with 58 per cent of the vote. Rachelle Devine of the NDP came in second place with 30 per cent of the vote, followed by Liberal Victor Andres with eight per cent and Green Party candidate Alon David Weinberg with three per cent.Voter turnout in Kildonan-St. Paul was at 61 per cent in 2011.