NDP takes New Westminster-Coquitlam byelection
Last Updated: Monday, November 9, 2009 | 10:52 PM PT
CBC News
Four seats were up for grabs in federal byelections Monday: one in B.C., two in Quebec and one in Nova Scotia.
The federal NDP retained the riding of New Westminster-Coquitlam in one of four byelections across the country Monday.
Fin Donnelly, a Coquitlam councillor, had pulled 52 per cent of the vote with half the polls reporting. He was declared the winner by The Canadian Press about 45 minutes after the polls closed.
Donnelly beat Conservative Diana Dilworth, a Port Moody councillor, who finished second, Ken Beck Lee of the Liberals, who was third, and Rebecca Helps of the Green Party.
The seat became vacant when New Democrat Dawn Black resigned to run, successfully, for the NDP in the British Columbia election in May.
In other byelections Monday, the Conservatives won in Nova Scotia's Cumberland-Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley, and the Bloc Québécois and Conservatives split the two ridings up for grabs in Quebec. The Conservatives won Montamagny-L'Islet-Kamouraska-Rivière-du-loup in eastern Quebec and the Bloc took the Montreal area riding of Hochelaga.
There were early indications the byelection in B.C. was not drawing much interest. Elections Canada said 3,075 votes were cast during three days of advance polling, down by about a third from the 4,576 who voted early in the 2008 federal election.
With files from The Canadian Press
