There were no upsets in the four by-elections held across Canada on June 19. With almost all of the polls reporting, all of the ridings stayed in the hands of the party that held them before.
Perhaps the most watched contest was in the southern Manitoba riding of Portage-Lisgar. That’s where Maxime Bernier, leader of the People’s Party of Canada (PPC), was trying to win his party’s first seat in Parliament.
Instead, Branden Leslie of the Conservatives easily held the riding. With most of the polls in, Leslie held a commanding lead of more than 63 percent of the vote, compared to about 18 percent for Bernier and the PPC. That’s a bigger margin of victory than former Conservative Leader Candice Bergen’s win in 2021, when she took about 52 percent of the vote in Portage-Lisgar. Bergen stepped down earlier this year, prompting the by-election. Losing the riding would have been a significant blow for the Tories, and a big victory for the PPC….