Canada's Conservatives win 2 vacant seats

OTTAWA, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- Canada's minority Conservative government won two more parliamentary seats in by-elections held to fill vacancies.

The party kept one of its longstanding seats in Nova Scotia, but scored an upset by winning over a separatist Bloc Quebecois seat in Quebec, the Canwest News Service reported Tuesday.

The Bloc retained another seat in Quebec, and the socialist New Democratic Party hung on to one of their seats in British Columbia, the Globe and Mail reported.

The Conservatives now have 145 seats, the Liberals 77, the BQ 46, the NDP 37 and there is one seat held by an independent.

The results were a blow to Michael Ignatieff's Liberals, who didn't manage to finish second in any of the four by-elections, Canwest said.

The worst voter turn-out in Monday's polls was at one of the Quebec districts, or ridings, where only 17 percent of voters cast a ballot, elections officials said.