Yukon ex-MP Bagnell prepares to leave Ottawa

Outgoing Yukon MP Larry Bagnell is cleaning out his desk in Ottawa this week, after he lost his seat in last week's federal election.

Bagnell, who lost a close race to Conservative Ryan Leef in the May 2 election, said he is tying up loose ends from his 10 years in Parliament before he decides what to do next.

Some of Bagnell's last tasks include attending some final meetings and disposing of constituency files, he said.

"If anyone wants an active file transferred to Mr. Leef and we've had one or two of those people come in we just give them their file and they take them to Mr. Leef," Bagnell told CBC News on Wednesday.

"Most of our files have been dealt with, though."

First elected in 2000

Bagnell was first elected as the MP for Yukon in November 2000. He was re-elected in 2004, 2006 and 2008.

In his early years in office, when the Liberals were in government, Bagnell was a parliamentary secretary to the ministers of natural resources and Indian and northern affairs.

From 2006 onward, Bagnell was the Liberals' critic for northern affairs and Arctic sovereignty. He was also involved in a number of standing and legislative committees during the 10 years and five months he was in office.

Bagnell and a number of other Liberal MPs, including outgoing leader Michael Ignatieff, lost their seats when the party caucus was reduced from 77 to 34 seats in the May 2 election.

Ignatieff, who resigned as the party's leader the day after the election, was among the outgoing MPs who said their final goodbyes to their re-elected colleagues at a caucus meeting on Parliament Hill Wednesday morning.

Disappointed but upbeat

Bagnell said his former Liberal colleagues in Ottawa are disappointed that some good people lost their seats, but also upbeat about making a fresh start.

Now 62, Bagnell said his parliamentary pension has already kicked in, since that happens automatically for MPs who are over the age of 55 when their term ends.

But Bagnell, who is returning home to Whitehorse next week, said he has not yet made any decisions about his future.

"I got so much to do, cleaning up and packing up and getting re-organized and everything, before I can think of anything else," he said.

Leef is expected to be in Ottawa on Friday to start his transition into Parliament.