An apology from Bryan Hayes (13 photos)

Aida Hayes wasn't surprised that the people of Sault Ste. Marie elected her husband Bryan Hayes to represent them in the House of Commons.

She was, however, surprised that so many Saultites voted for Hayes, the Conservative candidate.

More than a few people, including Hayes himself, were surprised at the margin by which he won the seat last night.

He finished 1,793 votes ahead of incumbent New Democrat Tony Martin.

And for that, Bryan Hayes apologized to his wife, Aida.

Almost 20 years ago they sat together, and Bryan told Aida he wanted to get into politics.

"I looked at him and saw what he could become," she said. "I asked him not to put our family through this."

But she was smiling and warmly embraced him when he apologized to her last night.

Even her mother, Sally Goldbergas, got in on the smiling hugs for Bryan.

They're seen above with Brandyn and Kevin Hayes, the two sons of Bryan and Aida Hayes.

Sally told campaign volunteers and supporters gathered to hear Hayes' victory speech that he was the best son-in-law that anyone could ask for.

Hayes said his mother was also not very into the idea of him running for a political office.

When he told his mother he wanted to get into politics, she said he wouldn't succeed because he is too honest.

"I think that precisely was why we won tonight," he said. "That and the hard work of our team."

All three major parties worked hard in Sault Ste. Marie this election, as they did across the country.

The Sault experienced a fairly high voter turn out at 64.4 percent.

Of those votes, 41.4 percent were cast for Hayes, 37.3 percent went for Martin and 18.8 percent voted for Liberal candidate Christian Provenzano.

Luke Macmichael of the Green Party picked up 2.1 percent of the votes, Christian Heritage Party candidate Randy Riauka finishing with 0.3 percent.

Marxist-Leninist candidate Mike Taffarel received 0.1 percent of the vote.

Nationally, the voter turnout was 61.3 percent, well short of the March 1958 record turnout of 79.4 percent.

Stephen Harper's Conservatives captured 39.6 percent of the vote and will form the government when that number is confirmed.

Jack Layton and the NDP will become the official opposition with 30.6 percent of the vote.

Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff did not win his seat in Etobicoke-Lakeshore and his party took 18.9 percent of the votes cast in this election.

The Bloc Québécois took 6.1 percent.

The Green Party finished with 3.9 percent of the votes and its leader, Elizabeth May, was the first Green Party member to win a seat in the House.

In Sault Ste. Marie, the votes began to return with Martin in the lead, which he maintained until about half the polling stations sent in their results.

Hayes pulled into the lead about 10:20 p.m. by a slight margin then the gap quickly widened.

By about 11 p.m. Martin had conceded and he went to Hayes' campaign office to congratulate him shortly after that.

Bryan Hayes credits his win to a good, hard-working team of supporters, to the dislike of Canadians of the long-gun registry and to their liking of the Harper government's economic and social policies.

He said he will begin his term of office with an apartment and constituency office search then begin immediately to lobby for a port in Sault Ste. Marie.