Liberal voters in Ottawa-Vanier have chosen Mona Fortier as their candidate for the upcoming federal byelection to replace the late Mauril Bélanger, who died in August of Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

After a long and exciting day that brought hundreds of party members to the Ottawa Conference Centre — and seven rounds and four hours to count the preferential ballots — Fortier edged out seven others candidates for the coveted Liberal nomination.

“Wow, I’m really happy about the results,” Fortier told reporters in French following the announcement. “We’re ready for a new campaign and to win once again. We’ve been fortunate to have a four-month head start… and we’re going to all work together.”

Ottawa-Vanier has been without a representative in the House of Commons since Bélanger died at 61. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau must call the byelection before February 19.

Fortier is a fluently bilingual strategic communications consultant and a long-time resident of Ottawa-Vanier. She worked with Bélanger — to whom she refers as a mentor — on his eight federal election campaigns and also co-chaired his 2015 campaign.

Bélanger’s widow, Catherine Bélanger, endorsed Fortier about two and a half weeks ago.

“She has the same values that Mauril and I shared,” Ms. Bélanger told The Globe and Mail. “She has the riding of Ottawa-Vanier in her heart, but also the mind for the job.”

When asked Sunday night what parts of Bélanger’s legacy she would take with her moving forward, Fortier pointed to his commitment to both his constituents and to all Canadians.

“Mr. Bélanger was a people’s person. He worked with every community in Ottawa-Vanier,” Fortier said. “We have to continue to represent all of the riding and also all of the minorities across Canada. Mr. Bélanger did that wonderfully so I will continue that heritage.”

Ottawa-Vanier is one of the few Liberal fortresses in the country, having consistently elected a Liberal to the House of Commons since 1935. Assuming she wins, Fortier would be the first female MP to represent Ottawa-Vanier federally in the riding’s history.

More than 2,669 people braved flurries to cast ballots Sunday out of the approximately 7,000 party members who were registered to vote, according to Liberal Party spokespeople. It took seven rounds and close to four hours of counting ballots before the party announced the results — a strong indication the race was tight. The party will not release the breakdown of votes per candidate.

While the majority of those registered to vote didn’t turn up to cast ballots, Senior Director of Communications Braeden Caley said today’s turnout exceeded the party’s expectations.

Tony Stikeman, president of the Ottawa-Vanier Liberal riding association, said the day was “a bit of a circus… a good circus.”

“Not only is it encouraging, it’s unprecedented,” Stikeman told iPolitics Sunday afternoon.

Sunday’s nomination contest is the first that has occurred since the Liberals moved to make party memberships free of charge. Caley said the party believes the open memberships are responsible for the surge in registrations in Ottawa-Vanier.

The New Democratic Party nominated their candidate for the byelection, University of Ottawa law professor Emilie Taman, back in November. Taman ran unsuccessfully in the same riding during the 2015 election.

The Conservative and Green parties have not yet nominated their candidates.

Bélanger garnered 57.6 per cent of the votes in the 2015 election. Taman came in second with 19.3 per cent of the vote — followed by the Conservative candidate, David Piccini, with 19.1 per cent, and the Green Party candidate, Nina Dookeran, with three per cent. In the end, Bélanger won the riding with more than 24,000 votes.

The riding of Ottawa-Vanier

Apart from being a safe Liberal riding, Ottawa-Vanier is known for being home to a large Franco-Ontarian population, as well as a significant number of immigrants. Fortier described the riding Sunday as a “diverse community” and a “mini Canada.”

The eight Liberal nomination candidates shared many policy priorities. During the nomination contest’s most recent debate last Thursday, many of them expressed a desire to take truck traffic off King Edward Avenue and to ease income inequality in the riding — which is home to some of the poorest citizens in the Ottawa region and some of the richest.

Many candidates also promised to prioritize investing in infrastructure, supporting immigrants and refugees, and promoting small businesses and the local economy, among many other issues.

Following the nomination results, Fortier emphasized that some of her priorities would be the construction of affordable housing and job creation in the riding.

The riding’s residents recently went to the polls for a provincial byelection held on Nov. 17, 2016 to replace Liberal MPP and attorney general Madeleine Meilleur — who resigned in June earlier that year.

Residents elected University of Ottawa law dean Nathalie Des Rosiers as the new MPP. Desrosiers won by a margin of 5,655 votes over Progressive Conservative candidate André Marin — and with 48.5 of the vote.

The late Mauril Bélanger

Bélanger was an eight-term MP, who represented Ottawa-Vanier at the federal level from 1995 until his death in 2016. He served as a cabinet minister in former prime minister Paul Martin’s government.

Following the 2015 federal election, Bélanger was considered a frontrunner for the position of Speaker of the House of Commons. He withdrew his bid after being diagnosed with ALS, but continued to serve as MP for Ottawa-Vanier.

In January 2016, Bélanger became the first MP to use a voice generator in the House. He used an app on his tablet to introduce his private member’s bill, which seeks to amend the lyrics of Canada’s national anthem — “O Canada” — to make them gender neutral. As of Dec. 15, 2016, the bill was before the Senate.

On Mar. 9, 2016, Bélanger served as honorary Speaker of the House for one day, after his colleagues voted in favour of a motion allowing him to do so.

With files from Nathan Caddall