Fortier only cabinet minister to go down to defeat

Trudeau, Kennedy, Garneau win for Liberals

Last Updated: Wednesday, October 15, 2008 | 7:26 AM ET

By John McHutchion and Julia Skikavich, CBC News

Two prominent faces in Conservative Leader Stephen Harper's previous caucus will be missing in Ottawa as a result of Tuesday's election.

Voters rejected former cabinet minister Michael Fortier's bid in Quebec and booted Rahim Jaffer from his Alberta riding.

With the notable exception of Fortier, all of Harper's cabinet ministers were re-elected.

Peter MacKay, re-elected in Central Nova, was one of the cabinet ministers in the previous Conservative government. (CBC)Fortier, who was controversially appointed as a senator in 2006 after not running in the election, quit the Senate to seek a seat in the House of Commons this time around. He served as the minister of public works and the minister with responsibility for the greater Montreal area.

But Fortier was convincingly defeated in the Quebec riding of Vaudreuil-Soulanges by Bloc Québécois incumbent Meili Faille.

Faille garnered 41.26 per cent of the popular vote in the riding which she has held the riding since 2004. She also defeated former astronaut Marc Garneau in the riding by more than 9,000 votes in 2006.

Garneau, who ran in the Westmont-Ville-Marie riding, will go to Ottawa this time after taking 47.12 per cent of the vote.

Conservative incumbent Jaffer lost his Edmonton-Strathcona riding to New Democrat Linda Duncan. Duncan defeated him by 442 votes.

Jaffer, 36, a high profile MP who is engaged to Ontario's Simcoe-Grey representative Helena Guergis, had represented the riding since 1997.

Former cabinet minister Maxime Bernier, on the other hand, won his Beauce riding, taking 62.41 per cent of the vote.

Bernier resigned from the cabinet earlier this year when it was revealed he had left classified government documents at the home of his ex-girlfriend, Julie Couillard.

Leaders in, except May

The leaders of Canada's four major parties also easily won their ridings, leaving Green Leader Elizabeth May the only one shut out from going to Ottawa.

NDP Leader Jack Layton and his wife, Toronto-area MP Olivia Chow, celebrate their victories in Toronto. (Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)Harper was declared elected in the riding of Calgary Southwest soon after the polls closed in Alberta. The prime minister took 72.9 per cent of the popular vote.

Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion was declared elected in the Saint-Laurent-Cartierville riding, having won 61.72 per cent of the popular vote.

NDP Leader Jack Layton also took his Toronto-Danforth riding, garnering 44.99 per cent of the vote. Layton's wife, Olivia Chow, also was returned to office in Trinity-Spadina with 40.88 per cent of the riding's vote.

Gilles Duceppe was declared elected in his Laurier-Sainte-Marie riding where he held 50.32 per cent of the popular vote.

May lost her bid to unseat Conservative incumbent Peter MacKay in the Nova Scotia riding of Central Nova.

MacKay took 46.6 per cent of the popular vote to May's 32.24 per cent. NDP candidate Louise Lorefice trailed with 19.56 per cent of the votes cast.

Green Leader Elizabeth May acknowledges supporters as she concedes defeat in the Nova Scotia riding of Central Nova Tuesday night. (CBC)"All of you who are here tonight have made the difference in turning this camp into one that grabbed national attention, not because we were tilting at windmills but because we set out to do something right and we set out to do it for the right reasons," May told supporters at her campaign office.

MacKay has now won his riding five consecutive times. He was the defence minister in Harper's cabinet when the election was called.

"Thank you for your confidence," MacKay told supporters after he claimed victory. "Public life is nothing without you."

Liberal Scott Brison was declared re-elected in the Nova Scotia riding of Kings-Hants. Brison won the seat in 1997 and a 2000 byelection for the Progressive Conservatives. After switching to the Liberal caucus in 2003, Brison has now carried his riding three more times.

Independent Casey returns to House

In the Nova Scotia riding of Cumberland-Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley, Bill Casey, an Independent candidate, was the apparent repeat winner.

Casey ran off with 69.01 per cent of the vote. NDP candidate Karen Olsson was a distant second with only 12.32 per cent support.

Casey was kicked out of the Conservative caucus in 2007 in a dispute over the budget and sat as an Independent.

In Newfoundland and Labrador, Fabian Manning, the only Conservative incumbent in the province, lost to Liberal candidate Scott Andrews.

Manning's loss meant the Conservatives were shut out in the three seats they held in Newfoundland and Labrador. The shutout came in the face of Premier Danny Williams's "Anything But Conservative" campaign.

In St. John's East, former MP and former provincial NDP leader Jack Harris won the race in a landslide that gave him more than 74 per cent of the popular vote.

His nearest challenger, Liberal candidate Walter Noel, picked up 12.5 per cent of the votes cast.

Trudeau wins in Papineau

Liberal Gerard Kennedy arrives at his Toronto headquarters after winning the riding of Parkdale-High Park. (CBC)Ralph Goodale held onto his Saskatchewan riding of Wascana. It is the only seat that will be held by the Liberals in the Prairie province.

In British Columbia, Dona Cadman, the widow of maverick MP Chuck Cadman, defeated the NDP in the riding of Surrey North for the Conservatives.

Liberal incumbent Hedy Fry maintained her Vancouver Centre riding, beating out the Conservative candidate, Lorne Mayencourt by 4,501 votes.

Justin Trudeau, the son of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, took the Montreal riding of Papineau for the Liberals, with 42.53 per cent of the popular vote.

Meanwhile in Ontario, Garth Turner was defeated by Conservative Lisa Raitt in the Halton riding. Raitt took 47.44 per cent of the vote.

Turner, often noted as a colourful and controversial member of Parliament, was expelled from the Conservative Party in 2006 and briefly sat as an Independent before joining the Liberals.

Liberal Gerard Kennedy, who pushed Dion to victory in the Liberal leadership race, was declared elected in his Toronto riding of Parkdale-High Park. He held 43.01 per cent of the popular vote.

Other former Liberal leadership contenders Bob Rae, Toronto Centre, and Michael Ignatieff, Etobicoke-Lakeshore, were also returned to office.