A prominent Manitoba Progressive Conservative jokingly coined a phrase back in the 1960s to describe Conservative political bastions like Brandon Souris and Provencher in Manitoba and Liberal political fiefdoms like Toronto Centre and Bourassa in Ontario and Quebec respectively.That phrase is “yellow dog country,” as in “A yellow dog would win here if it had the right party name.”And that's exactly what defined Tuesday night's much-touted and much-analysed four byelections.Yes, vote shares shifted, in some cases, dramatically. But in the end, the yellow dogs all ran home: Brandon-Souris and Provencher are still blue; Toronto Centre and Bourassa are still red.The only real shockers of the night were the stunning Conservative shrinkages in Brandon Souris and Provencher. Brandon Souris has been Conservative since its creation 60 years ago with just one four-year exception. The Liberals captured it in the 1993 federal election, the year the Progressive Conservatives tumbled from a big majority government to just two parliamentary seats and subsequent annihilation.Liberal candidate Rolf Dinsdale, the son of the riding's most durable Progressive Conservative MP, Walter Dinsdale, shaved the 56-year run of massive PC and Conservative victories down to a mere 391 votes, leaving Conservative candidate Larry Maguire watching his party's vote share plunge by some 10,000 votes from former Conservative MP Merv Tweed's 2011 general election score.The other Manitoba riding, the almost-equally durable Conservative fortress of Provencher, witnessed a similar nosedive. Conservative Ted Falk shed 14,800 votes from former Public Safety Minister Vic Toews' winning 2011 result but still managed to rack up a clear majority of 51 per cent of ballots cast.Even so, the Conservative machines in two of the safest Conservative ridings in Canada still felt the need to resort to personal attacks and smears. Less than a week before the Nov. 25 byelections, the Conservative campaign released a two-page missive using code words to “push-poll” Brandon Souris voters on all the hot-button issues, from gun control and the defunct Canadian Wheat Board monopoly to crime and child care.Some samples:“(We) created the Universal Child Care Benefit to help parents with childcare costs. Unlike the Liberals, we believe moms and dads – not lobbyists and bureaucrats – know what's best for their kids...“We also fought hard to scrap the wasteful and ineffective long-gun registry. Justin Trudeau and his Liberals have pledged to bring it back…“And we lived up to our commitment to market freedom for farmers, by ending the Canadian Wheat Board monopoly. The Liberals have been fighting us every step of the way…“We continue to work hard to protect our families and communities from crime, stand up for victims and punish criminals…Justin Trudeau's Liberals have voted against our tough on crime measures. Only last week, Justin Trudeau announced that a Liberal government would scrap mandatory prison sentences…“Justin Trudeau's plan to legalize marijuana will make it more accessible to our kids and encourage recreational drug use.”The Conservative attack machine also revved up in the heavily-Mennonite riding of Provencher whose first MP was the legendary Metis leader, Louis Riel.This time it became up-close, personal – and very painful - for one young teen, Evan Weins.Weins gave an interview to CBC News in February about his efforts to start a gay-straight alliance at school, one part of the provincial NDP government's anti-bullying strategy announced in early 2013. It requires schools to accommodate students who want to start anti-bullying clubs, including gay-straight alliances.The province's legislation met fierce resistance within the Mennonite community, with one religious leader comparing it to “persecution.”During the February interview, Weins was taunted by other students whose remarks were caught on camera.On Nov. 21, the Carillon, Steinbach's newspaper, published an interview with Conservative candidate, now Conservative MP, Ed Falk. In it, Falk acknowledged that homosexual people do face bullying, but questioned whether the taunting Weins had experienced back in February was real.“Whether that was staged we don't know,” Falk told the newspaper. Asked if he thought the teens had staged the scene, Falk said, “By the organizers, yeah.”Weins told the paper he was shocked and hurt by Falk's comment. “My own journey with Bill 18 was so long ago and I'm just confused why he would think that it would be necessary to say that I would stage a bullying incident for myself,” he said.Yet Falk stood his ground. “I have no idea if it was staged or not,” he wrote in an e-mail to CBC News. But he then went on to state that he is “100 per cent against bullying of anyone, anywhere and for any reason. Bullying is bullying, no matter who it's directed against.”The battle lines are being drawn for 2015. If two of Monday's four byelections are any indication, it's likely to be one of the nastiest, dirtiest and most polarizing elections in Canadian history.Frances Russell was born in Winnipeg and graduated from the University of Manitoba with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and political science. A journalist since 1962, she has covered and commented on politics in Manitoba, Ontario, B.C. and Ottawa, working for The Winnipeg Tribune, United Press International, The Globe and Mail, The Vancouver Sun and The Winnipeg Free Press as well as freelanced for The Toronto Star, The Edmonton Journal, CBC Radio and TV and Time Magazine.She is the author of two award-winning books on Manitoba history: Mistehay Sakahegan – The Great Lake: The Beauty and the Treachery of Lake Winnipeg and The Canadian Crucible – Manitoba's Role in Canada's Great Divide. Both won the Manitoba Historical Society Award for popular history.She is married with one son and two grandsons and lives in Winnipeg.