Aglukkaq wins easily in Nunavut; Saganash scores upset in northern Quebec

(12:55 a.m., May 3)

Leona Aglukkaq, the incumbent Conservative MP for Nunavut, easily won re-election May 2 by taking nearly 50 per cent of ballots cast.

As of 12:30 a.m. May 3, Aglukkaq’s unofficial vote count stood at 3,727, with 50 of 56 polling stations reporting results.

Liberal Paul Okalik was in second place with 2,103, or 28.1 per cent, and Jack Hicks of the NDP was in third place with 1,487 votes, or 19.9 per cent. Scott MacCallum of the Green Party took 158 votes, or 2.1 per cent.

In Abitibi-James-Bay-Nunavik-Eeyou, Romeo Saganash scored a stunning upset by winning 44.3 per cent of the vote to take the riding from Yvon Lévesque of the Bloc Québecois, who received only 17 per cent of the vote and ended up in third place.

Conservative Jean-Maurice Matte came in second with 22.6 per cent and Léandre Gervais of the Liberals finished well back with 10.2 per cent. Johnny Kasudluak of Inukjuaq took 909 votes for the Green Party, 3.3 per cent of votes cast.

Nationally, Stephen Harper’s Conservatives will form a majority government, with 166 members either elected or leading. Jack Layton’s New Democratic Party will form the official opposition, with 103 members.

Gilles Duceppe, whose Bloc Québecois was virtually destroyed in Quebec, lost his seat, as did Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff, whose party was reduced to only 34 seats in the House of Commons.

Duceppe, whose decimated party was reduced to four seats, has already announced his resignation as leader of the Bloc.

(More to follow)