Wild election night in some ridings in northern Ontario

Reaction from Sudbury East - Manitoulin - Nickel Belt Conservative MP-elect Jim Belanger about winning his first federal election, taking riding from Liberals.

As was the case in most of Canada, the election Monday night in northern Ontario was a two-horse race as the Liberals and Conservatives fought tooth and nail to win seats.

There were upsets, shakeups, nail-biting moments and see-saw battles as many held their breath waiting to see who would represent them in our nation’s capital.

Election night started off strong for the Conservatives. Gaetan Malette picked up the new riding of Kapuskasing-Timmins-Mushkegowuk.

“I’m very pleased and I’m thankful that we had a very, very good campaign,” Malette said.

“The reason (I won) is because of our volunteers and the people wanted change.”

Scott Aitchison is heading back to Ottawa, easily winning re-election in Parry Sound-Muskoka for a third time.

“That seat in the House of Commons does not belong to me,” Aitchison said.

“It belongs to the people of Parry Sound-Muskoka and I am incredibly humbled and honoured that they have sent me back there to advocate for them.”

There was more cause for celebration for the Conservatives when Jim Belanger upset long-time MP Marc Serre in Sudbury East-Manitoulin-Nickel Belt.

“To the best of my ability, I want to get to know what the issues are,” Belanger said.

“We want to grow our industries and support our small businesses and make good paying jobs.”

Serre said he was proud to have served voters for so long.

“Canada and northern Ontario (are) looking for people that are involved and engaged and after my 10 years, I’m proud of what I’ve done,” he said.

It was a different scene at Conservative candidate Garry Keller’s North Bay campaign headquarters in Nipissing-Timiskaming.

An incredibly close race came down to the last batch of votes that saw Liberal challenger Pauline Rochefort eke out a victory by the thinnest of margins.

At one point in the night, she was leading by just 25 votes with two polls remaining.

“It’s never fun to lose an election campaign, especially when it’s this close,” Keller said.

“You think about how many more doors could we have knocked on? How much more could we have done?”

“It turned to leadership in our country and who would be able to unite the provinces, who would be able to lead us forward,” Rochefort said.

“So then it turned more to the matter of which leader would be best.”

It was another rollercoaster of emotions in Sault Ste. Marie – Algoma. Incumbent Terry Sheehan defeated Conservative challenger Hugh Stevenson by only 1,500 votes.

“This was the most critical election in our history and everyone was stepping up right across northern Ontario and right here in Algoma and Sault Ste. Marie,” Sheehan said.

The Liberals won much more easily in Sudbury, where Viviane Lapointe held onto her seat, winning close to half of the vote.

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“There’s certainly a lot of concern,” Lapointe said.

“We will need to work very hard to ensure that we’re addressing those concerns and the fears of Canadians, that will be the responsibility of our government moving forward.”

Files from Lydia Chubak, Alana Everson, Cory Nordstrom and Ian Campell.