Liberal Larry Bagnell wins Yukon federal election

The Liberal Party's Larry Bagnellisheading back to Ottawa, four years after narrowly losing his seat to Conservative Ryan Leef.

Bagnellwon the Yukon riding decisively Monday night, with 10,715 votes or53.6 per cent of the vote. Leef, in second place,won 4,800 votes representing 24 per cent of all ballots.

"Let's go to Ottawa and get our Canada back!" Bagnelltold a cheeringcrowd of supporters at his victory party Monday night.

"We ran a campaign to give hopeto the unemployed, to the veterans, to the struggling elders, to the scientists, to the FirstNations people, to the environmentalists, to those who want their democracy restored," Bagnell said.

Bagnell's win isa massive turnaround from the last election, when he unexpectedly lost the seat he'd held for 11 years. On Monday, he receivednearly double the number of votes he got in 2011.

In hisconcession speech,LeefcongratulatedBagnelland urgedYukonersto support their new MP.

"Tonight democracy worked and Canada got the change it was looking for,"Leefsaid.

'It is what it is,' says NDP's Atkinson

Though NDP candidate Melissa Atkinson led in the first fewpolls reported, Bagnellsoon took a solidlead and held on through the evening. His vote share consistently hovered around the50 per cent mark, with Atkinson and Leefat times almost evenly dividing the remainder ofvotes. Eventually, Leef solidifiedhis second-place position.

Atkinson ended in third place, with 3,890 votes, or 19.5 per cent. That's a modest increase from 2011 for the party, whenNDP candidate Kevin Barr won 14.4 per cent of the vote.

"It is what it is," Atkinson said after Bagnell was declared the winner. "Istarted this campaign in a positive way, and it was about putting that faith in the people.They have spoken."

Green candidate Frank de Jong finished a distant fourth, with 577 votes or 2.9 per cent. That representeda big collapse in Green support since 2011, when the party'sJohn Streickerwon 18.9 per cent of the Yukon vote, finishing ahead of the NDP's Barr.

"I am very happy that the Harper government has been defeated,and defeated soundly," de Jong said.

"That's sending a message that Canadians are not as mean-spirited as the Conservative government was portraying us all over the world."