The Conservative victory in Tuesday's federal election was marked in B.C. with another near sweep of the province's rural ridings, holding back the NDP from making the gains that party hoped for in the working-class territory.

In every riding outside of Greater Vancouver and Greater Victoria except one, the same parties were chosen by B.C.'s rural voters as in the last election.

The single change came in the closely fought race in Vancouver Island North, where former Conservative MP John Duncan won back the riding he once held from NDP incumbent Catherine Bell with 45 per cent of the vote.

Elsewhere on Vancouver Island, the Conservatives took every rural seat with the exception of Nanaimo-Cowichan, which was held by NDP incumbent Jean Crowder with 45 per cent of the vote.

In the province's Interior, the Conservatives won every seat but two, which were held by NDP incumbents.

The NDP's Alex Atamenenko held on to Southern Interior riding with 48 per cent of the vote, while the NDP's Nathan Cullen held on to the northern B.C. riding of Skeena-Buckley Valley with 49 per cent of the vote.

In most of B.C.'s hinterland the Conservative victory was overwhelming, drawing comparisons to Alberta, where the party has become singularly dominant.

On Tuesday night after the ballots were counted, the party was celebrating decisive victories in ridings such as Okanagan-Coquihalla, where Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day won with more than 58 per cent of the vote, an increase of eight points over the previous election.

In Kootenay-Columbia, Conservative Jim Abbott took almost 60 per cent of the vote, making him one of the longest-serving Conservative MPs in government.

But the largest victory in the province went to Conservative incumbent Jay Hill, who won Prince George-Peace River with nearly 64 per cent of the vote.

As for the Liberals, they struggled in rural B.C., making their best showing in Cariboo-Prince George with just over 10 per cent of the vote.

In many rural ridings the Liberals were demoted to fourth place behind the Green party, which managed its best showing with 17 per cent of the vote in Okanagan-Shuswap, a close third to the NDP.

Tories expected minority victory: Day

Day celebrated the Conservative victory with a hotel banquet room full of hundreds of cheering supporters in Penticton.

Day said the Tories expected a minority government all along.

"It's about what we thought would happen. The prime minister was clear. He thought it would be another minority…. We actually came closer than a lot of people thought, but it's an increased mandate," said Day.

And despite a minority government, Day said Canadians have spoken. "There are some clear differences between us and the Liberals and NDP and the people of Canada have noted that difference and given us the increased mandate to follow that path," said Day.

In Southern Interior riding, the NDP's Atamenenko won almost as many votes as the Tories, Greens and Liberals combined. The former teacher credited his victory to "the hard work we tried to do to work with people, the fact I tried not to be partisan, just to get out there and get the job done," said Atamenenko.