Byelection results: Liberals, Tories hold on to seats

The Liberals and Conservatives each won two of thefour federal byelections Monday night, a result that maintains the electoral status quo but may be seen asa partial victory for Justin Trudeau's partywhichnearly pulled off an upsetin a Manitoba Conservative stronghold.

The Manitoba riding ofBrandon-Sourishad been too close to call all night. At one point, Liberal candidate RolfDinsdale had taken a slight lead, butTory candidate Larry Maguire, a prominent provincial MLA, was able to claimvictory, winning by just under 400 votes. Maguire secured 44.1 per cent of the votes compared to the Liberal candidate's 42.7 per cent.

• Dispatches from the byelection battlegrounds
• Liberals win in Toronto Centre: CBC
• Manitoba byelections: Live coverage

"Thank you Brandon-Souris! Your support tonight is truly appreciated," Maguiretweeted shortly after his victory.

The Liberals did hold on to Toronto Centre, where ChrystiaFreeland defeated NDP candidate Linda McQuaig. They also retained Montreal's Bourassa riding, where Liberal candidate Emmanuel Dubourg claimed victory.

"TheNDPis no longer the hopeful optimistic party of JackLayton," Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau said in Montreal. "It is the Liberal Party tonight that proved that hope is stronger than fear."

TheNDPis no longer the hopeful optimistic party of JackLayton.- Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau

The race inToronto Centre hadshaped up into a contest between two journalists;Freeland, a former Reuters executive and author, andMcQuaig, an author andformerToronto Starcolumnist. Freeland won over McQuiag by a substantial margin49.1 per cent to 36.4 per cent.

In the Liberal stronghold ofBourassa,Dubourg, who won 48.1 per cent of the vote,will be replacing former Liberal MP DenisCoderre,who stepped down to run for municipal office and is the city's newly elected mayor.

StphaneMoraille, a former singer in the musical group Bran Van 3000, the candidate for theNDP, came in second with 31.4 per cent.

Dubourg'sfirst post-election tweet reaffirmed his agreement with his party's stance on marijuana legalization.

"I am for regulation and therefore the legalization of marijuana," he wrote.

Conservative candidate TedFalkclaimed victory inthe riding ofProvencherin Manitoba.

Falkrecorded a bigvictory, winning 58.1 per cent of the vote compared toLiberal candidate Terry Hayward who trailed with 29.9per cent support.

The longtime Tory stronghold was most recently represented by former cabinet minister VicToews, who retired from politics in July after almost 13 years as the area's MP.

Brandon-Souris a top priority

Of the four contests,thebyelectioninBrandon-Sourishadbecome a priority for the party leaders asthe normally Conservative stronghold was seen to be vulnerable, in part because the nomination process forMaguirerankled some Tories.

Trudeau hadpersonally visited the riding three times,NDPLeader TomMulcairhad visited twice and several federal Conservative cabinet ministers have made the trek to the riding.

Prime Minister StephenHarper, who has for weeks fended off opposition attacks about the Senate spending scandal, tookthe unprecedented step of sending a personal letter to Brandon constituents an indicator of what's at stake in this riding.

Since Trudeau was chosen as the federal Liberal leader last spring, the party has risen fromthird place in the polls, back into first place, with the Conservatives slightly behind. TheNDPhas sunk back to its traditional third-place slot.