As votes were being counted late Monday, Gobeil had nearly 50 per cent of the vote, compared with 33.4 per cent for Bloc Quebecois candidate Caroline Dube.

The Conservative candidate, Regis Gaudreault, was running a distant third.

The result gave the Liberals a more decisive victory than polls during the campaign had suggested. The final campaign poll, published Aug. 25, had put Gobeil and Dube neck-and-neck, with 40 per cent and 38 per cent support respectively.

Prime Minister Mark Carney congratulated Gobeil on social media, calling him the next member of Parliament for Chicoutimi--Le Fjord.

"He will be a strong voice for rural Quebec and the entire agri-food sector across the country," Carney wrote Monday.

The byelection was called after Richard Martel, the Conservative who had represented the Saguenay-area riding since 2018, left the House of Commons to accept an appointment to the Senate by Prime Minister Mark Carney.

Throughout the campaign, the Liberals argued that voters in Chicoutimi--Le Fjord would benefit from having an MP on the government benches, particularly as Canada continues to deal with the trade war with the United States.

They also fielded a candidate with strong ties to one of the region's key industries. Gobeil is a former president of Les Producteurs de lait du Quebec, an organization representing Quebec dairy farmers.

Carney pointed to Gobeil's candidacy as a guarantee that Canada's supply-management system for dairy, poultry and eggs would not be sacrificed in an effort to ease tensions with the United States.

Chicoutimi--Le Fjord, situated in Quebec's Saguenay--Lac-St-Jean region, includes dairy producers as well as forestry workers affected by U.S. tariffs and workers in the aluminum industry, which plays a major role in the regional economy.

Trade tensions with the United States intensified during the final days of the campaign, putting the tariff war back in the headlines, though the Bloc and Conservatives said they had heard less about the dispute while campaigning this time around than during the 2025 federal election.

Conservatives said voters were likely to raise concerns about the cost of living and immigration. The Bloc said it heard about the financial difficulties facing seniors.

The Bloc poured significant resources into trying to capture the seat.

Supporters gathered Monday at a microbrewery in Saguenay, where volunteers and party members watched the results alongside Bloc MPs Mario Simard and Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe.

Before the results came in, Brunelle-Duceppe said he was "nervous, but confident."

"We've never had so many resources in Chicoutimi--Le Fjord," he said, adding that volunteers from across Quebec had come to help with Dube's campaign.

Dube previously worked for Simard, the Bloc MP for the neighbouring federal riding of Jonquiere, and ran provincially for the sovereigntist Parti Quebecois in the provincial riding of the same name in 2022.

Conservative candidate Regis Gaudreault, a longtime lawyer and teacher at Cegep de Chicoutimi, previously worked with Jean-Pierre Blackburn, a former Conservative cabinet minister who represented the former federal riding of Jonquiere--Alma.

Two other federal byelections were also held Monday, in Beaches-East York in Ontario and North Vancouver--Capilano in British Columbia.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 31, 2026.

-- With files from Charlotte Glorieux in Montreal