The astounding orange wave that swept through Quebec on election night unseated many veteran MPs in Montreal, including Gilles Duceppe, who resigned as Bloc Québécois leader.

Historically, Montrealers have backed Liberal or Bloc candidates, but voters broke with tradition to snub several incumbents.

Prominent Liberals in Montreal and Laval – including Marlene Jennings, Bernard Patry and Pablo Rodriguez – lost to their lesser-known NDP rivals.

Denis Coderre, Justin Trudeau and Stéphane Dion managed to hold on to their respective seats in Bourassa, Papineau and St-Laurent-Cartierville.

Irwin Cotler in Mont-Royal and Francis Scarpaleggia in Lac-Saint-Louis were also reelected.

Jennings acknowleged the disastrous results for her party, but doesn't believe it's the end of the Liberals in Quebec.

"I think that the Liberal Party, the heart is still there, the soul is still there. It's a question of working together, and rebuilding."

Jennings, who was first elected 14 years ago, was the first black woman from Quebec to sit in the House of Commons as an MP.

NDP winner says she ran for party, not against Duceppe

NDP supporters celebrate in Montreal. The party's Montreal candidates uprooted several Bloc and Liberal incumbents. (CBC)NDP candidate Hélène Laverdière beat Gilles Duceppe in Laurier-Sainte-Marie, a Bloc bastion.

Laverdière says no one should be surprised by Monday's election results, because people she met were keen for political change.

"You could feel it walking around, you could feel the people interested. It's a movement for change, which is not only a few elected MPs, but which is far more profound than that."

Duceppe has represented the riding for a decade and a half, since the Bloc was first created.

Bloc incumbent Daniel Paillé lost to NDP Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet in the east-end riding of Hochelaga, long considered a Bloc stronghold.

Tyrone Benskin won Jeanne-Le Ber for the NDP, defeating Bloc candidate Thierry St-Cyr by about 25 percentage points.

Once the sole NDP MP in Quebec, Thomas Mulcair cruised to victory in Outremont, winning over rival Liberal Martin Cauchon with more than 55 per cent of the popular vote.