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OTTAWA — The Conservatives have stolen a Quebec riding away from Justin Trudeau’s ruling Liberals, in the first test of Andrew Scheer’s effort to recreate the nationalist-conservative coalition that helped federal Tories dominate the province in the 1980s.

With all 188 polls reporting, Conservative candidate Richard Martel had captured 53 per cent of the vote in a federal byelection held in Chicoutimi-Le Fjord — more than 5,000 votes ahead of Liberal Lina Boivin, who took 29 per cent.

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Martel is a former head coach of the Chicoutimi Saguenéens Quebec Major Junior Hockey League team and is well known in the riding.

The NDP and Bloc Québécois candidates were not in contention, capturing just 8.7 per cent and 5.6 per cent respectively, while the Green candidate had just 3.1 per cent of the vote.

The byelection was precipitated by the resignation of rookie Liberal MP Denis Lemieux.

He won the riding almost by fluke in the 2015 general election, with just 31 per cent of the vote. At that time, the contest was a four-way fight, with the NDP capturing 29.7 per cent of the vote, the Bloc taking 20.5 per cent and the Conservatives taking 16.6 per cent.