Conservatives keep Manitoba blue
The Conservatives held tight to their Manitoba seats and earned two more, ensuring the province stays awash in a blue sea.
They did it at the expense of the NDP's Jim Maloway and Liberals' Anita Neville, two strong incumbents.
Lawrence Toet defeated Maloway after a tight race in Winnipeg's Elmwood-Transcona riding that went to the wire.
That riding, although it has gone through various incarnations in boundaries, has been held by the NDP for 32 years.
Maloway claimed it in the 2008 federal election when he made the leap to the federal stage from the provincial one.
It was held before that by Bill Blaikie since 1979.
Maloway previously served in the Manitoba legislature from 1986 to 2008, representing Elmwood for the NDP.
Meanwhile, Neville went down to freshly-minted Conservative candidate Joyce Bateman who was a longtime card-carrying Liberal before shifting to the Conservatives just three weeks before the election.
The Liberals had held the Winnipeg South Centre seat since 1988 and it was represented by Neville since 2000.
Robert Sopuck held onto the Conservative seat in Dauphin-Swan-River Marquette, as did Conservative James Bezan in Selkirk-Interlake and Vic Toews in Provencher and Candace Hoeppner in Portage-Lisgar and Merv Tweed in Brandon-Souris.
In Winnipeg, Conservative incumbent Steven Fletcher was easily re-elected in Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia riding, while fellow Conservative incumbent Rod Bruinooge retained his Winnipeg South seat.
Bruinooge said the Conservative majority means Winnipeggers waiting for a crackdown on crime won't have to wait much longer.
"Toughening our criminal justice system, I mean that was a promise the prime minister made and I think Canadians expect us to keep that promise," he said.
Other Tory incumbents, Joy Smith and Shelly Glover, claimed victory in Kildonan-St. Paul and St. Boniface, respectively.
In Winnipeg North, another riding that was historically NDP orange, the party's rookie candidate Rebecca Blaikie was in a too-close-to-call race with Liberal Kevin Lamoureux until the final poll tipped the seat in Lamoureux's favour by 117 votes.
"I love politics, I love serving people. I'm excited to be able to go back to Ottawa," said Lamoureux, who first won the seat during a byelection in November.
Prior to that, it was NDP territory from 1962 to 1988, when it was won by the Liberals but taken back by the NDP in 2004.
Blaikie said she is disappointed in the loss but proud of what the NDP accomplished in the country, making history by adding some 70 more seats to its total and becoming the official opposition.
"It's not fun to lose but I think we have lots to be proud of tonight, not only here in Winnipeg North, where ran a very good campaign, a strong campaign, but it's a great night to be a New Democrat," she said.
In Manitoba's northern Churchill riding, NDP incumbent Niki Ashton managed to hold on after Conservative challenger Wally Daudrich gave her a good run.
And Pat Martin, another NDP incumbent, won handily over Conservative Bev Pitura in Winnipeg Centre.
