Tory trails by 2,500 votes; Liberal a distant third

Bloc Québécois MP Yvon Lévesque will continue to represent Nunavik's riding of Abitibi-Baie-James-Nunavik-Eeyou, following his third win in the Oct. 14 election.

Lévesque's 10,994 votes – 39.6 per cent of the vote – gave him the edge over the Conservative candidate, Jean Maurice Matte, who received 8,422 votes or 30.4 per cent of the vote.

Lévesque, backed by union support, won the seat from the Liberals for the nationalist Bloc in 2004. In a pre-election interview, Lévesque promised the Bloc would continue to promote the rights of all citizens of Quebec.

Mark Canada, the Liberal candidate and the only one of five candidates to visit Nunavik during the campaign, came in third with 5,110 votes or 18.4 per cent of the vote.

The NDP's Erica Martin received 8.2 per cent of the vote and the Green's Patrick Rancourt 3.3 per cent of the vote.

Results show 27,729 or 48.7 per cent of the 56,922 registered electors cast votes.

In an Oct. 14 telephone call, Canada remained hopeful that his recent campaign tour to Nunavik, which included visits to Kuujjuaraapik, Inukjuak, Puvirnituq, Salluit and Kuujjuaq would pay off in votes – if Nunavimmiut turned out on election day.

The battle for the riding, which sometimes turned acrimonious, was largely fought in the larger southern towns of Val d'Or and Senneterre, with the northern portion of the riding largely neglected, Canada said.