Conservatives win Nunavut, Yukon
The Conservatives have won two of Canada's three northern territories, Yukon and Nunavut, while the NDP is holding on to the Northwest Territories.
Nunavut's Conservative incumbent, Leona Aglukkaq, who was health minister in the last government, won 4,111 votes — or 49.9 per cent of the vote — with all 56 polls reporting in the territory.
Liberal Paul Okalik, Nunavut's former premier, secured 2,360 votes, while New Democrat Jack Hicks got 1,603 votes. Green Party candidate Scott MacCallum came in fourth with 173 votes.
"I think people saw in the two short years what I was able to deliver to the North, and my commitment to working with northerners as a northerner," Aglukkaq told CBC News after her victory was announced late Monday night.
In Yukon, Conservative Ryan Leef edged out longtime Liberal MP Larry Bagnell in a very close race.
Leef secured 5,422 votes compared to 5,290 for Bagnell — a difference of just 0.82 per cent, or 132 votes, between them.
"Wow, I'm completely humbled right now, for sure, to be where I'm at," Leef told reporters in Whitehorse, after Bagnell conceded defeat and congratulated him.
The victory for Leef, a 37-year-old political newcomer, is an upset for Bagnell, who had represented Yukon federally since 2000.
"We certainly have a lot of rebuilding to do in the party," Bagnell said, referring to the Liberal Party's overall losses in Monday's election.
Born and raised in Yukon, Leef worked most recently as a corrections superintendent at the Whitehorse Correctional Centre.
He has also worked as an RCMP officer, a conservation officer, a big-game outfitter and a martial arts trainer. He competed in two professional cage fights last year.
Rounding out the Yukon race were Green Party candidate John Streicker with 3,037 votes and NDP candidate Kevin Barr with 2,308 votes.
In the Western Arctic riding in the Northwest Territories, NDP incumbent Dennis Bevington won with 6,820 votes, or 45.8 per cent of the vote.
Behind Bevington were former N.W.T. politicians Sandy Lee and Joe Handley. Lee, a Conservative, secured 4,728 votes, while Handley, the territory's Liberal candidate, has 2,702 votes.
Bevington, who has represented Western Arctic since 2006, becomes one of the 100-plus New Democrats to form the Official Opposition, a major gain from the 37 seats the party had when it entered the election campaign.
"The 'Orange Crush' is here," Bevington told a cheering crowd of supporters in Yellowknife late Monday night.
"The inspired leadership of [NDP Leader] Jack [Layton] has carried us forward here to the best New Democratic finish in the history of our party, and a finish that will change the face of Canadian democracy going forward."
Also in Western Arctic, Eli Purchase of the Green Party won 444 votes and Bonnie Dawson of the Animal Alliance Environment Voters Party of Canada got 83 votes.
