The Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) dominated the Portage-Lisgar by-election on Monday, showing about 60% of the votes with the election all but over.
The CPC’s Branden Leslie will become Portage-Lisgar’s newest MP.
With over half the polling stations reporting, Leslie has 63.1% of the votes compared to 18% for PPC candidate – and party leader – Maxime Bernier.
Liberal candidate Kerry Smith sits third in the riding, at 9.1%.
The PPC’s Bernier changed his place of residence to run in the by-election, in an attempt to win his party’s only federal seat in parliament.
The Portage-Lisgar riding has consistently been a Conservative stronghold since it became represented in the House of Commons in 1997.
Former CPC interim leader Candice Bergen held the spot from 2008 until she stepped away from politics in 2022.
In the riding’s previous election, Bergen won 53%, while PPC candidate Solomon Wiebe got 20.8%.
However, the PPC only received 2.6% of the vote in the election before that, so PPC faithful thought momentum might be on their side.
No official polls were released during the election campaign.
