VANCOUVER – The Conservatives have managed to claw the Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge riding away from the Liberals, according to the CTV News Decision Desk.

Less than two hours after the polls closed in B.C., Marc Dalton was leading Liberal incumbent Dan Ruimy with 37 per cent of the vote. CTV's results team declared his win with 50 of 183 polls reporting.

Ruimy was the first MP elected after the new riding was established in 2012, and was voted into office as Justin Trudeau surged into a majority government in 2015.

Before that, the previous riding of Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge-Mission had a long legacy of voting blue, having been held by Randy Camp for 11 years and other Conservative, Alliance and Reform MPs since 1997.

Dalton is a high school teacher, former pastor and member of the Canadian Armed Forces who used to be a provincial MP before losing his seat in the 2017 B.C. election by just 120 votes.