It was a bittersweet night for Liberal candidates Tracy Calogheros and Matt Shaw as they both lost their bids to become MPs but also witnessed a surprise majority government for their party.
The news from the rest of the country also kept the rest of the 60 or so supporters, many dressed in shades of red, who gathered at the Prince George Golf and Curling Club in an upbeat mood.
Rounds of applause greeted both the projection that the Liberals would win at least 170 seats in Parliament and the appearance of party leader Justin Trudeau on the big screen.
Shaw conceded early while Calogheros continued to remain hopeful late into the night, preferring to wait for a confirmation of the results.
After hours of closely watching the returns, by 10 p.m. Calogheros had garnered 32 per cent of the Cariboo-Prince George vote, bested by the 36.4 per cent earned by Conservative Todd Doherty.
Calogheros was in a celebratory mood thanks to the majority win for the party overall.
"Ultimately, what I wanted is to have Canada back and we got that," Calogheros said.
"Canada took their country back from Mr. Harper, we now have an opportunity to make some real change and yes, of course I would've loved to have been a part of that by becoming the MP coming out of this area but hey, the voters make their choices and the voters are never wrong."
Calogheros also felt inroads for the Liberals were made in the riding.
"It's given people in this area the permission to be a Liberal, to not be a Conservative, to be something else publicly and to that without retribution and I think that's good."
Calogheros's Prince George-Peace River-Northern Rockies colleague Shaw also placed second in his riding. As of 10 p.m. Monday, Shaw had 25 per cent of the riding's vote compared to nearly 52 per cent secured by Conservative incumbent Bob Zimmer.
Shaw said he would like to run again.
"I feel like I learned a lot and next time around I think I can take a lot into the next contest and I would really like to do it again and hopefully, next time, build on what happened tonight."
Shaw said he "never dreamed" the Liberals would have won a majority.
"I think there was a certain pent-up feeling that he (Harper) was taking things down a certain path that Canadians didn't want to go and the Liberals turned out to be the alternative that Canadians were looking for, much more than the NDP.
Shaw said he thinks Trudeau better articulated a vision for the country that echoed Canadian values.
"I think that people kind of wanted to move back towards these more magnanimous, fair-minded Canadian values that Stephen Harper did not embody," he said.
"I think that he said the right things and the right time and so, we're in for a bit of Canadian history right now."
