A quiet federal election campaign in Souris-Moose Mountain ended Monday night with a quiet celebration by the victor, incumbent Roy Bailey of the Canadian Alliance, who was swept to victory by a landslide of votes.

Bailey garnered 63 per cent of the vote, receiving 19,215 votes compared to NDP candidate Tom Cameron's total of 4,752, and Liberal candidate Myles Fuchs' total of 4,442. Conservative Larry Gabruch, who never campaigned in the riding, came in fourth, receiving 2,037 votes.

The voter turnout in Souris-Moose Mountain was very light at 64.3 per cent, only slightly better than the national turnout of 62.8 per cent, one of the lowest turnouts ever recorded. The total number of votes cast across Canada was 12,795,341 in 301 ridings.

Nationally, Prime Minister Jean Chretien and his Liberal party were returned to power for a third consecutive term with a strong majority of 173 seats. The Alliance returned as the Official Opposition with 66 seats - all of them in Western Canada except for two seats in Ontario.

The Bloc Quebecois dropped slightly to 37 seats, the NDP has 13 and the Progressive Conservatives were just able to preserve official party status with 12 seats. All five party leaders won their respective ridings.

Speaking to a small group of supporters at the Weyburn Inn late Monday night, Bailey said he would continue to work as the Member of Parliament for all residents of Souris-Moose Mountain as he did in the last term.

In an interview, he said he wasn't too surprised at the final result in his riding.

"I was quite confident we were going to win. As I travelled the constituency, there were no soft spots. I have to say with the staff I had we did a good job of representing the people of the riding, and not just those who voted for me. I want to continue that tradition," he said.

But Bailey was disappointed that the Alliance didn't make more of a breakthrough in the key province of Ontario.

He said the fear campaign waged against the Alliance hurt them in Ontario, but western Canadians didn't buy into the negative ads.

"The 'hidden agenda' and name-calling was bad. I think it was a dirty campaign; I don't think Canadians can be proud of this at all," said Bailey, noting eastern newspapers called him names ranging from a Nazi to a bigot and a racist, "but that didn't play out here. People didn't believe any of that out here."

He blamed some of the Ontario results on union leaders there telling their members to get out and vote Liberal.

Asked if there will be any doubt about Alliance leader Stockwell Day in light of the results, Bailey said he didn't think there would be a problem, and noted their party has a very open system of review compared to other parties.

Bailey's closest rival, Tom Cameron of the NDP, was reached at his campaign headquarters in Estevan and expressed disappointment that there were only two NDP MPs elected in Saskatchewan.

"I congratulate Mr. Bailey on his success, and I look forward to seeing him fulfill his promise in getting more money for our cash-strapped farmers, and I hope he will be able to convince Mr. Day of that. I also hope he will follow through on his support for medicare, and hope he will convince Mr. Day of the need for that as well," said Cameron.

He admitted he didn't think Bailey's margin of victory would be as large as it was.

"When I was travelling the country, I had a good feeling about the election, but the people I talked to obviously didn't represent the majority," he said, adding the vote was due in large degree to an anti-Liberal backlash.

Cameron spoke highly of the two NDP MPs re-elected, Dick Proctor and Lorne Nystrom, and hoped they can carry the NDP message to Ottawa.

"They are very well-respected in most circles, and I'm certain they can speak on behalf of farmers and medicare, and issues for working people," he said. "I'm proud to have run as a New Democrat, and I've really enjoyed the experience. I appreciate the support I did receive. I hope I ran a positive campaign that talked to the issues and looked for solutions rather than talking about the negative things in our area."

The Liberal candidate, Myles Fuchs, was reached at his home near Fleming, and admitted the feeling against the ruling party was too strong to overcome in this riding.

"There's a tremendous degree of upset with the handling of the agricultural crisis by the federal government. The frustration is there; as I said throughout the campaign, I can understand and appreciate that," said Fuchs.

The only thing he would do differently, he added, would be to start the campaign earlier; when the election was called, Bailey was the only nominated candidate in place.

"The Alliance just went with the trend or ground swell. We were organized to no less a degree. We maybe could have had more visibility if we had had more time," said Fuchs.

The federal Liberals need to address the discontent felt in western Canada, he added, which could be addressed by setting up a regional advisory committee through which western concerns could be brought forward to the government.

Asked if he might consider running again, he replied, "I knew it would be really tough slugging. It was a tough decision to come into the campaign. Being a farmer myself, I certainly understand the reaction. I enjoyed the campaign very well, it was a good opportunity to talk to people and understand the depth of the problems in the area."

Fuchs hopes to be able to contribute in the future by taking part in any Liberal party policy discussions, especially relating to agricultural policies.

In the breakdown of votes by polls, both Cameron and Fuchs failed to win their home polls of Carievale and Fleming respectively, while Bailey swept all of the Weyburn polls and all but one of the Estevan polls. In the rural areas, only the polls on the White Bear reserve, Cowessess and Ochapowace were won by Fuchs instead of Bailey.