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Conservative expectations of a made-in-Quebec majority crashed into a solid Bloc and a modest resurgence of the sad-sack Liberals, led by a rookie candidate with a famous name.

The Tories and Bloc Québécois stood pat with totals similar to 2006, while the Liberals added Justin Trudeau to nearly unchanged results.

The NDP's Thomas Mulcair won a narrow victory in the Montreal riding of Outremont, marking the first time the party won a seat in Quebec in a general election. Mr. Mulcair first took the former Liberal stronghold in a 2007 by-election.

But the francophone rejection of federalist forces in favour of their default position in the Bloc remained widespread and led to a nearly status quo result.

A tin Tory ear for Quebec sensitivities and a persistent dislike for Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion in francophone areas left each party with a tattered fringe of Quebec MPs.

The Tories failed to move forward after three years of carefully targeted efforts — including federal aid for projects such as a massive new bridge for Montreal — that were designed in part to attract francophone nationalist voters.

Michael Fortier, who was industry minister and sat in the Senate from 2006, was defeated in the suburban Montreal riding of Vaudreuil-Soulanges.

As the government's representative for Montreal, Mr. Fortier's defeat will leave a gaping hole for the Conservatives in Canada's second largest city.

"It has been a difficult slog for all [my family], not just for the past 37 days, but these 36 months," Mr. Fortier told supporters.

The minority Tory government is now faced with constructing a cabinet from a group of MPs who were unable to defend their decisions in the campaign.

Cabinet ministers Josée Verner, Jean-Pierre Blackburn and Lawrence Cannon won their seats along with the troubled former foreign affairs minister Maxime Bernier.

Conservatives gathered in Quebec City were upbeat after polls predicted major losses in the province.

Mr. Blackburn, who was among the predicted losers, was ecstatic: "A lot of radio and television stations will have to take a hard look at how they made their predictions."

In government, the Conservatives recognized the Québécois nation but were vilified during the campaign for alleged attacks on Quebec culture.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper answered two long-standing Quebec demands by granting Quebec a bigger role at UNESCO and putting billions toward resolving the so-called fiscal imbalance.

Instead, his small cuts to arts funding mobilized the opposition during the campaign, including a wildly popular online video that mocked Conservatives as humourless, fanatically religious Anglos.

A get-tough approach to young offenders revived the view that the Tories are far to the right of mainstream Quebec and added to a perception of insensitivity.

"They ran a terrible campaign and should have been able to build on the momentum form the last election. But their arrogance got the best of them," said one long-time Conservative supporter who asked to remain anonymous.

The Liberal result was also a failure in rural francophone Quebec, where Mr. Dion is resolutely unpopular. But the party was left with a glimmer of hope in Montreal, where it led in a handful of ridings.

Mr. Trudeau's campaign headquarters in Papineau erupted in raucous cheers as news of his victory flashed onto television screens. It wasn't quite Trudeau-mania, but chants of "Jus-tin, Jus-tin" filled the room.

Greeted by cheers from his supporters, Mr. Trudeau promised to fight for social justice and against Tory policies, especially on the environment. "Canada once again chose to tell Stephen Harper, 'We just don't trust you with a majority,'" said Mr. Trudeau, flanked by his wife, Sophie Grégoire.

The 36-year-old political neophyte enjoyed an outsize profile in the race.

"He gives the Liberal Party a star in Quebec, which it needs enormously," said Jean Lapierre, a former Liberal cabinet minister and now a political commentator. "He's got charisma and represents a new generation."

The Tories could have used a little of the Trudeau star quality. Outside of Mr. Fortier, the Conservatives had no strong candidates to defend their policies. While the Tories relied heavily on the provincial Action démocratique du Québec party for grassroots organization, marching orders came from the party's national campaign chairman Doug Finley. He insisted on keeping candidates on a tight leash by avoiding all-candidates debate and by keeping a low profile in the media.