Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe vowed going into the election that his party would take a record number of seats in the province, but the Conservative's surge in the province has denied them that victory.
The Conservatives made the largest gains in the province, with early polls showing the party took roughly 25 per cent of the popular vote, up from just under 9 per cent in the 2004 election.
This time around the Tories asserted themselves as a credible federalist alternative after Quebec voters soured on the Liberals for their involvement in the sponsorship scandal. In 2004, the Liberals held nearly 34 per cent of the popular vote, and 21 seats in the province. The Liberals' support has dropped 19 percentage points in this election.
The Bloc won 51 ridings, the Liberals 13, and the Tories 10. Quebec's legendary radio host and independent candidate André Arthur won the Portneuf-Jacques Cartier riding.
Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe at his victory rally Monday night. (Clement Allard/CP)
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Mr. Duceppe predicted a record haul for his party Sunday, vowing to take seats on Montreal Island and in western Quebec that have been Liberal for decades. In 2004, the Bloc won 54 of the 75 seats in the province, but popular support has dropped from the 2004 election by nearly 7 per cent to 42 per cent of the vote.
Tory candidates like Jean-Pierre Blackburn, a former MP in the Mulroney Conservative government, who won handily in the Jonquiere-Alma riding, will now form a base for the new Quebec Conservatives.
Liberal Leader Paul Martin managed to retain his seat in LaSalle-Emard, before saying he would not lead the Liberal party into the next election.
Several high ranking members of Mr. Martin's Quebec Liberal caucus lost their seats.
Heritage Minister Liza Frulla lost her Jeanne-Le Bar seat to the Bloc candidate Thierry St-Cyr, after winning it by roughly 1 per cent of the vote in 2004. Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew lost his Papineau riding to the Bloc's Vivian Barbot.
Paul Martin's Quebec lieutenant and Transport Minister Jean Lapierre, the former separatist from the Montreal riding of Outremont, faced a tough challenge with both the Bloc and the Conservatives gaining momentum in his riding. But Mr. Lapierre managed to hold the riding, which has been held by the Liberals since Confederation, with the exception of the 1988 election.
Liberal star candidate and former Astronaut Marc Garneau lost his bid for Vaudreuil-Soulanges to Bloc candidate Meili Faille.
The Green party managed only 3.9 per cent of the popular vote in the province.
