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The morning after three federal byelections was like an elementary school sports day, with all the party leaders wearing their participation medals — “If you had fun, you won” — and claiming victory.

In the B.C. riding of Burnaby South, the NDP’s Jagmeet Singh celebrated a win that paves his way, after 16 months as leader, to a seat in the House of Commons.

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To be fair to him, he won the prize through hope and hard work, and no one can ever take his newly won legitimacy away from him (at least not until October).

But the festivities did rather mask a crushing defeat in Outremont where the NDP lost the Quebec seat held by Tom Mulcair in three successive general elections. It also ignored a poor performance in the York-Simcoe byelection in the commuter belt north of Toronto, where the party recorded just 7.5 per cent of the vote.

The Liberals claimed the win in Outremont, taking an opposition seat for the third time in this Parliament — a feat not matched since 1908. It seems that Quebecers do appreciate the Herculean efforts being made by this Prime Minister to place their interests ahead of the rest of the country, on issues ranging from pipelines to the current SNC-Lavalin saga.