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Canada  

Liberals take first byelection

The Liberals have jumped into an early, commanding lead in a safe seat in Newfoundland and Labrador, one of four ridings in which federal byelections are being held tonight.

With just five of 261 polls reporting, Liberal contender Churence Rogers has captured 61 per cent of the vote in Bonavista-Burin-Trinity — 29 percentage points ahead of his nearest competitor, Conservative Mike Windsor.

The riding, left vacant after the retirement of cabinet minister Judy Foote, is the safest Liberal seat in the country. Foote won the largest margin of victory in the country during the 2015 election, taking a whopping 81.8 per cent of the vote.

Polls have not yet closed in the other three ridings: Toronto's Scarborough-Agincourt, Saskatchewan's Battlefords-Lloydminster and British Columbia's South Surrey-White Rock.

The Saskatchewan riding is a safe Conservative seat and the Toronto riding is a safe Liberal seat; neither is expected to change hands tonight.

But the Liberals are trying to wrest the B.C. seat from the Conservatives.



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