The Conservatives have held onto the riding of Durham east of Toronto in a federal byelection.

Former air force pilot turned corporate lawyer Erin O'Toole easily won the seat for the Tories on Monday by taking half the vote.

The riding was vacated by Bev Oda, who resigned the federal Conservative cabinet in July in the wake of a series of spending and expense controversies.

O'Toole told roughly three dozen supporters at a Royal Canadian Legion hall in Bowmanville, Ont., that his No. 1 priority in Ottawa will be creating new jobs in the region. His father John represents Durham for the Progressive Conservatives at Queen's Park and was among the first to greet the newly minted MP as he entered the legion hall. O'Toole said the scandals swirling around Oda prior to her departure weren't a major concern of citizens he met while campaigning.

It wasn't an easy ride for the Tory candidate in Calgary Centre, where Joan Crockatt beat Liberal challenger Harvey Locke by only one-thousand votes, and the Green Party candidate finished a close third.

In Victoria, a neck-and-neck battle saw New Democrat candidate Murray Rankin emerge the victor over the Greens' Donald Galloway, so the riding remains N-D-P, as it has been since 2004.

(The Canadian Press)