CALGARY - Conservative Joan Crockatt eked out a federal byelection win in Calgary Centre on Monday night, narrowly beating Liberal Harvey Locke and raising questions about her campaign in the heartland of Harper conservatism.

With 260 of 263 polls reporting, Crockatt, a former journalist, had captured 37 per cent of the popular vote in the diverse inner-city riding, while Locke was trailing with 33 per cent.

The two front-runners were followed by the Green party’s Chris Turner, who captured 25 per cent of the votes cast, while the NDP’s Dan Meades had only four per cent. About 30 per cent of the 94,000 eligible voters in the riding cast a ballot. Independent candidate Tony Grochowski and Libertarian Tony Prashad each captured less than one per cent of the vote.

Late Monday, Crockatt thanked supporters and said knocking on thousands of doors in the riding helped propel her to victory in Calgary Centre.

“It was a nail-biting evening, but I’m a new candidate. I’m not an incumbent and byelections are always challenging for a majority government,” Crockatt told a gathering at an Eau Claire pub.

“I’m just thrilled that we won tonight and I really will work very, very hard to represent this riding well.”

Just after 10 p.m., Locke conceded he couldn’t erase Crockatt’s lead. However, the local lawyer and conservationist noted his campaign had made deep inroads in the riding, which has elected a string of Conservative and Reform MPs since its creation in 1966.

“The question for me as a Liberal that has been answered tonight (is), can a Liberal run competitively in Calgary? Unquestionably, yes,” Locke told reporters.

“The conservatives might have to rethink their campaign strategy of being invisible.”

Although Locke didn’t want to blame anyone else for the loss, he said anti-Alberta comments made by Liberal MPs Justin Trudeau and David McGuinty might have hurt him in the last week.

“I wish the comments this week hadn’t happened,” he said of McGuinty’s remarks suggesting Alberta MPs should go back to their home province if they were going to be so narrowly focused on the oil industry.

The byelection was also a strong showing for the Greens under Turner, a local writer. At his headquarters Monday evening, Turner said his campaign proved that the Greens can be successful anywhere.

“We sent a very, very clear message that Calgary is not the city everyone thinks it is,” he said.

Turner said the gains made by the Greens and Liberals should be a signal to the Conservative government that there is deep dissatisfaction, “even in Calgary.”

“I am certainly encouraged to see not one but two campaigns seriously challenged the Conservatives in Stephen Harper’s backyard. That is a really powerful message,” Turner said.

The byelection was prompted by the resignation of longtime Conservative MP Lee Richardson in June.

Although Calgary is usually strong Tory territory, and the party has a powerful get-out-the-vote organization, Crockatt won the support of less than 40 per cent of voters. In the 2011 election, Richardson won the last election with 58 per cent of the popular vote.