In the end, it wasn’t even close.

Conservative candidate Michael Barrett thundered to an easy victory in Monday’s federal byelection, collecting 58 per cent of the popular vote to keep Leeds-Grenville-Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes solidly in the Tory column.

His closest competitor, Liberal Mary Jean McFall, was second with 35.5 per cent, according to Elections Canada’s count with more than 98 per cent of the votes in.

The NDP’s Michelle Taylor and Lorraine Rekmans of the Green Party were duking it out for the third and fourth spots, with Taylor narrowly ahead with 3.1 per cent of the ballots compared with three per cent for the Greens.

Barrett, who led the polls throughout the evening, said his victory sends a strong message to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and foreshadows a Conservative victory in the general election in just 11 months.

“Let’s make Justin a one-term prime minister,” he told a cheering crowd at his Brockville campaign office.

Barrett said his victory shows that people are saying no to a carbon tax and to a prime minister who prefers giving money to celebrities than helping average Canadians like those in Leeds and Grenville.

And noting that Prime Minister Trudeau has not yet moved into the PM’s residence of 24 Sussex Drive because of renovations, Barrett said the next man to occupy the home will be his leader, Andrew Scheer.

The California Avenue campaign office was packed with enthusiastic campaign workers, Conservative MPs down from Ottawa, local politicians, including the mayors of Brockville, Augusta, Prescott, Edwardsburgh/Cardinal and Elizabethtown-Kitley, and friends and family of Barrett.

The candidate’s grandparents, Frank and Betty Barrett, both 89, led the crowd in cheers for their grandson as Frank danced a vigorous jig in celebration of the results.

McFall telephoned Barrett shortly before 10 p.m. to concede the election with 40 per cent of the polls left to be counted.

Barrett praised McFall and all of his opponents for running respectful and clean campaigns. He promised to represent all voters of Leeds and Grenville, not just those who voted for him, adding that he hoped to persuade more into the Tory column during the general election.

Barrett also paid tribute to former MP Gord Brown, whose death of a heart attack in May made the byelection necessary.

With 235 of the 238 polls reporting, Barrett had 16,176 votes to McFall’s 9,885, Taylor’s 861 and Rekmans’ 846. Independent John Turmel received 109.

The turnout was 34.3 per cent.