The Conservatives have scored a big byelection upset victory in the Bloc Quebecois stronghold of Roberval-Lac-Saint-Jean in one of Monday's three Quebec byelections.
Tory candidate Denis Lebel - the mayor of Roberval - was the biggest name on the ballot and he was leading the Bloc candidate by close to 5,000 votes with 145 of 194 polls reporting at press time.
The Conservatives had finished second in the riding in the last election to former Bloc MP Michel Gauthier.
In the two other ridings, the races were too close to call, but the Tories were competitive in a race in Saint-Hyacinthe-Bagot.
The Bloc had a 500-vote lead over the Conservatives in Saint-Hyacinthe-Bagot, where Eve-Mary Thai Thi Lac was leading but with only 40 of 224 of polls reporting, it was also too early to call.
In Outremont, the posh Montreal neighbourhood and Liberal fortress, NDP star candidate, Thomas Mulcair, a former Quebec provincial Liberal cabinet minister, with only 19 of 168 polls reporting, he was leading by about 400 votes
The Bloc had a 500-vote lead in Saint-Hyacinthe-Bagot, where Eve-Mary Thai Thi Lac was leading but with only 40 of 224 of polls reporting, it was also too early to call.
The byelections are a key barometer of how the parties are doing, at least in Quebec. The news didn't appear to be good for the Liberal Party and its leader, Stephane Dion. This is the party's first byelection under Dion's helm and the Liberals virtually owned Outremont, winning it all but once since 1935. His candidate Jocelyn Coulon angered elements of the Jewish community - 10 per cent of the Outremont electorate - over his opinions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in his former career as an international affairs commentator.
If Mulcair pulls out a victory, he will be only the second NDP to get elected in Quebec, both in byelections.
The byelection was necessitated by the resignation last January of former Liberal minister Jean Lapierre, the senior minister for Quebec in the Paul Martin government who was elected twice in the riding. Outremont has a long tradition of electing high-profile cabinet figures.
In Saint-Hyacinthe-Bagot, a Bloc win would be symbolic. Not only would they keep a riding former MP Yvan Loubier held for 13 years, but they would be able to say the separatist party, sometimes accused of not being inclusive, has elected a candidate of Vietnamese origin under its banner in the riding.
Born in Vietnam, Thai Thi Lac was adopted by Quebecois parents and raised from the age of two on a local farm. She speaks French and reminded voters of her local roots by telling them, during the campaign, that unlike the other candidates she knows how to castrate a pig.
Thai Thi Lac, Loubier's former political aide, conceded at the start of the campaign that she got questions about her origins but said when she pointed out she grew up in Acton Vale, the town in the centre of the sprawling riding, voters seemed more at ease.
"I feel it enormously, but i explain it (my origins) and people are receptive. I would say what scares people a little is difference, but when they speak to me, when they see me, when I am asked about my values, they see no difference between them and me."
Before Monday's byelections seat in the House of Commons broke down as follows: Conservatives 125; Liberals 96, Bloc 48, NDP 29, Independent 3, vacant 7.
With files from the Montreal Gazette