By-Election Results

Liberal leader Stephane Dion declared Monday "a great day for Liberals" as his party's candidates claimed victory in three of four federal byelections, two in Toronto and one in Vancouver.

Within minutes of the victory declarations, Liberal party president Marie Poulin e-mailed a fundraising letter to party faithful, saying "we can all be assured that tonight's successes show Canadians that the Liberal Party is primed and ready for whenever a federal election is called."

Liberals held onto three longtime urban strongholds with voters electing lawyers Bob Rae in Toronto Centre and Martha Hall Findlay in the Toronto riding of Willowdale, and Joyce Murray, former provincial environment minister, in Vancouver Quadra. Ms. Murray ran a tight race against Conservative Deborah Meredith, a commercial law lecturer.

Voters denied the Liberals a clean sweep, however, choosing Conservative Rob Clarke, an RCMP officer, over Joan Beatty, a candidate Mr. Dion hand-picked from the ranks of Saskatchewan's provincial New Democratic Party caucus, to run in Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River, a sprawling northern riding.

Liberals were counting on at least three byelection wins to provide a morale boost for Mr. Dion and his entourage, still bruised by three byelection defeats in Quebec last fall. They had lowered expectations about the Saskatchewan riding on grounds they won by only 67 votes in the last general election and there is no history of party loyalty there.

Early in the campaign, Mr. Dion provoked a backlash in the northern Saskatchewan riding by appointing Ms. Beatty, instead of allowing a nomination contest.

But Mr. Clarke, the winning Conservative, didn't think the controversial appointment of Ms. Ms. Beatty had much to do with his win.

"I don't think it had much impact with voters. I was concentrating on my own campaign," he said, adding he was "pleasantly surprised" to defeat the well-known northern politician, when he was a virtual unknown.

Farmer and political activist David Orchard, who says he had campaigned for a Liberal nomination contest for three months before hearing of Ms. Beatty's appointment on TV, told Canwest News Service Monday night that Liberals simply "wanted a democratic process." Appointing a candidate was "counterproductive."

But even after her sizable loss, Liberal candidate Joan Ms. Beatty was already looking ahead to the next federal election.

"It just makes me more determined for the next time around," she said. "I will do it again."

NDP candidate Brian Morin expressed concern that new rules put in place a few weeks ago requiring voter identification caused many problems, especially at polls in aboriginal communities in the riding. He charged that hundreds in the northwestern community of La Loche left the polling station without voting because they did not have proper ID.

At a community hall in the Vancouver Quadra riding Monday night, Liberal officials and volunteers watched nervously as the lead see-sawed between Ms. Murray and University of British Columbia lecturer Deborah Meredith during the early poll results.

Party officials dismissed suggestions that the close results would be a cause of concern for the party, saying that byelections often produce dramatically different results from those in a general election.

"Byelections are funny things," said Craig Munroe, president of the B.C. wing of the federal Liberal party. "The fact is, we're looking at getting a big victory here and I'm quite happy with it."

"Beating the Tories by more than 5% in Western Canada is a pretty good thing to do."

Mr. Rae and Hall Findlay had both won almost 60% of the votes in their Toronto ridings with all polls reporting. Clarke led with almost 48% in Saskatchewan, while Ms. Murray led Meredith 36% to 35% in Vancouver.

Mr. Dion will bolster his team with Mr. Rae and Ms. Hall Findlay, adding them to the ranks of former leadership rivals who sit near him in the House of Commons.

While officials say no decisions have been made on what caucus appointments the newcomers would be given, Mr. Rae, who takes over Toronto Centre, and Ms. Hall Findlay, Willowdale, are automatic members of what Mr. Dion has touted since he won the leadership in December 2006, as his "dream team" of former leadership rivals surrounding him in the Commons.

Mr. Dion named his closest rival, Toronto MP Michael Ignatieff, deputy leader. Mr. Rae has been sharing the post of official Opposition foreign affairs critic with Toronto MP Bryon Wilfert. With Mr. Rae and Ms. Hall Findlay voted in, the only one of eight final leadership contestants who would not have a seat in the Commons would be former Ontario education minister Gerard Kennedy, who plans to run in the next general election.

The results boosted Liberals in the 308-seat House of Commons to 97, slightly closing the gap with the now 127-member Conservative government. The Bloc Quebecois holds 48 seats, the New Democratic Party 30. There are four Independent MPs.

The byelections would leave two vacancies in Quebec, one formerly held by the Bloc and one by the Liberals. Two Ontario Liberals are also bowing out soon, setting the stage for another four byelections in coming months unless the Harper government is defeated, triggering a general election.

Mr. Rae, a high-profile public figure, is a lawyer, a seasoned orator, a former New Democratic Party MP and premier of Ontario.

Ms. Hall Findlay, also a lawyer, is a former businesswoman and competitive skier whose enthusiasm for politics showed when she drove a red bus across Canada to campaign for her leadership and to promote the Liberal party.