On a day where the departure of one of his most high-profile cabinet ministers turned up the heat on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberals, a B.C. byelection dealt another blow.

The federal Conservatives won the byelection in the British Columbia riding of Cloverdale-Langley City, returning Tamara Jansen to parliament.

With most polls reporting, Jansen was the clear winner of the Cloverdale-Langley City byelection, taking two-thirds of all votes – leaving the Liberals a distant second, followed by the NDP.

A victorious Jansen was celebrating at her Langley City campaign office with supporters and volunteers Monday night, but through a campaign spokesperson, refused an interview request from Black Press Media, saying no media interviews were being granted.

Fellow Conservative MP Tako van Popta, who represents the neighbouring Langley-Aldergrove riding, was among the visitors. He  emerged from the celebration, calling Jansen "a good addition to caucus."

Turnout was low, with just over 14,000 of more than 92,000 eligible voters casting ballots.

Jansen won narrowly, then lost, narrowly, in the last two federal elections in the riding, running against Liberal MP John Adag.

Aldag was not in the picture this time, after the two-term Liberal MP resigned to run for the B.C. NDP in the October provincial election, losing to Harman Bhangu of the B.C. Conservatives, who won the Langley-Abbotsford riding by more than 5,600 votes.

In one online message to voters, Jansen urged voters "to send Trudeau a very special Christmas gift – a new Conservative MP for Cloverdale-Langley City (hint: it’s me!)."

Prior to entering politics, Jansen owned and operated the Darvonda Nurseries greenhouse with her husband and family in Langley's Milner neighbourhood.

Her campaign included door knocking and pancake breakfasts at her campaign offices, but not an all-candidates meeting organized by the Cloverdale District Chamber of Commerce and the Surrey Board of Trade (SBOT), attended by the other five candidates. 

Liberal rival Madison Fleischer said she was looking forward to a rematch. 

"It might not have been the result that we were expecting or hoping. But you know what? We have a general election to look ahead to," Fleischer told supporters at an election party in Cloverdale Monday night.

"It's always a good day to be a liberal," Fleischer went on to say. "And I am proud to be a Liberal, because values matter and we need to be forward thinking."

She thanked campaign volunteers saying "the most important thing that we can be is proud of all the hard work and all the sacrifices that each and every one of you did [with] the phone calls, knocking on doors, we've talked to thousands of constituents."

Liberal Madison Fleischer said she is looking forward to a rematch after losing the Cloverdale Langley City by-election

— Langley Advance Times (@LangleyTimes)

While the vote attracted attention locally and nationally as another test of the Liberal governments declining popularity, local voters were less interested, based on advance polling that saw just over 5,000 people casting votes over four days, about a quarter of the number who cast advance ballots in the last election in Cloverdale-Langley City.

Elections Canada estimated the number of residents in Cloverdale-Langley City at 130,665, with 92,061 electors listed.

All three provincial ridings in Langley were won by the B.C. Conservatives this fall, who have no official relationship with the federal Conservatives.

It was the 11th byelection for a federal seat since the 2021 federal election.

Trudeau's Liberals have lost two other recent byelections, and are running well behind the Conservatives according to opinion polls, fuelling demands by political rivals that the prime minister resign as party leader. Further to the troubles facing the Justin Trudeau, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland posted a bombshell resignation letter a couple of hours before the byelection polls opened in Cloverdale-Langley City on Dec. 16.

In September the federal Liberals lost a byelection to the Bloc Québécois in the Montreal riding of LaSalle—Émard—Verdun. The loss came after unexpectedly losing Toronto—St. Paul’s to the Conservatives in a byelection in June.

The successive byelection losses, dismal poll numbers and now Freeland's cabinet exit have inspired public calls from inside and outside of Trudeau's caucus for him to resign as party leader.

Freeland said in a letter Monday that she had to step down from cabinet because the prime minister lost faith in her after she fought back against decisions that ballooned the deficit far past what she previously pledged.

Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, whose caucus has supported the minority Liberals in key votes, called on Trudeau to step down as Liberal leader. 

Singh said "all options are on the table," but would not say if he was ready to bring down the minority government.

— The Canadian Press