Hamilton has elected its first Liberal MPs in almost a decade as part of a Liberal sweep set to hand Justin Trudeau a majority government.

Liberal Filomena Tassi scored a strong win in the Hamilton West-Ancaster Dundas riding, with roughly 46 per cent of the popular vote, while former Hamilton mayor Bob Bratina won a much closer but still comfortable race in Hamilton East-Stoney Creek with approximately 40 per cent of the popular vote. Tassi is the winner in a new riding that has no incumbent, while Bratina unseated long-time NDP stalwart Wayne Marston.

I knew I could do well in this riding, I grew up in this riding. - Bob Bratina

In Hamilton Centre, NDP MP Dave Christopherson, first elected in 2004, took the riding for the fifth time. Coun. Scott Duvall retained the Hamilton Mountain seat for the NDP.

Conservative David Sweet, in Flamborough Glanbrook, will be the area's only Conservative MP. The Liberals also scored an upset win in Burlington as Liberal Karina Gould edged out Conservative Mike Wallace, who had held the riding since 2006. Prior to that it had been in Liberal hands for 13 years.

"Think of what we've accomplished," Tassi said to her supporters in Dundas. "We went from third to first! This campaign team has been absolutely fantastic."

Red over orange

Marston's defeat bites into what has been for many years a solid NDP block of Hamilton support. During the Pierre Trudeau, Jean Chretien and Paul Martin eras, Hamilton was a Liberal stronghold, with powerful local politicians such as John Munro, Sheila Copps and Tony Valeri. But since 2004, the Liberals had not elected a single member in the Hamilton area.

McMaster University political scientist Peter Graefe told CBC News there is some evidence of Canadians voting en masse to get rid of a government. "And clearly, people wanted the Liberal red over the New Democrat orange," he said.

Ted McMeekin, MPP for Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale said the overall result is about Canadians rejecting the Conservative's pandering to fears and phobias.

"You know, democracy is wonderful. People will rise up and they'll say, we've had enough. And that's what they've done from coast to coast to coast today."

Bratina celebrated in an east end restaurant, and amid a buoyant crowd, and said he had been confident for some time.

"Although we felt momentum all the way through, when Justin Trudeau started to take off, I didn't say it to anyone but my wife, but I knew we were going to be successful." he told the CBC's Samantha Craggs.

"I knew I could do well in this riding, I grew up in this riding."

You know, democracy is wonderful. People will rise up and they'll say, we've had enough. - Liberal MPP Ted McMeekin

Tassi's win came in a new riding that attracted the most attention from media and party leaders. Trudeau visited twice — once with former prime minister Jean Chretien. Mulcair visited too. It was originally considered to be a close race between candidates for all three major parties: NDP candidate Alex Johnstone, Conservative Vincent Samuel and Tassi.

But Johnstone hurt her chances earlier in the campaign when she told a local reporter that she'd never heard of the Auschwitz concentration camp, and it became a national news story. (Johnstone visited Auschwitz with the Simon Wiesenthal Centre for Holocaust Studies last week.) Samuel attracted criticism with a flyer his candidates said was fear mongering. Tassi attracted questions for her stance against abortion

Alex Johnstone had to deal with the fallout of her remarks about Auschwitz and even had to take time out from campaigning to visit the Nazi death camp. (Samantha Craggs)

Other races near Hamilton:

Haldimand-Norfolk was considered a riding to watch, as projections showed Conservative incumbent Diane Finley in a tough battle with Liberal Joan Mouland.

But she won comfortably with 43.9% of the popular vote.

The contest had deep roots. Finley — the widow of Conservative senator and Harper campaign strategist Doug Finley — unseated Mouland's husband, former agriculture minister Bob Speller, in 2004.

Speller ran twice more against Finley and lost. (In one election, Speller's campaign was an early complainant in the robocalls scandal.) Finley has served in two ministerial roles under Harper.