When it comes to cabinet, here's who won — and who lost

A handful of Liberal cabinet ministers went down in defeat Monday evening — but the bulk are headed back to legislature, whatever that might look like.

• Liberals intend to form government despite Tory minority

• Recap election night in our live blog coverage

Here are some winners and losers from the Liberal cabinet.

Winners

Cathy Rogers, Moncton South

The Liberal finance minister was one of the evening's early projected winners, easily winning her riding over PC candidate Moira Murphy with 47.4 per cent to Murphy's 32 per cent.

It was a high-profile race as Murphy had bad blood with the Liberals — her husband is Michael, the former Liberal justice minister, ran against Brian Gallant for Liberal leadership and lost.

The win was more decisive for Rogers this time. In 2014, she won by 656 votes. On Monday, 1,009 separated the two.

Roger Melanson, Dieppe

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Melanson had the most resounding win for a cabinet minister — getting 71.6 per cent of the vote. His closest competitor NDP Joyce Richardson had 14.6 per cent.

Melanson is the president of the treasury board and is the minister responsible for trade policy. He was first elected in 2010.

Stephen Horsman, Fredericton North

While Melanson had the biggest win, deputy premier Horsman just squeaked by — a mere 261 votes separated Horsman from his PC competitor Jill Green (31.6 per cent to Green's 28.2 per cent).

That's a slight drop from when he was first elected in 2014 with 33.6 per cent. Horsman is also the minister of families and children.

Francine Landry, Madawaska Les Lacs-Edmundston

Landry looked to be in for a hard fight. She was up against Jeannot Volpé, the popular PC cabinet minister who was hoping to bounce back into politics after an eight year hiatus; he served from 1995 to 2010 and was once his party's interim leader.

But the economic development minister won by a big margin, taking 58.9 per cent of the vote to Volpé's 25.7 per cent.

Those aren't the only cabinet ministers returning.

The rest includes Denis Landry (Bathurst East-Nepisiguit-Saint-Isidore), Brian Kenny (Bathurst West-Beresford), Andrew Harvey (Carleton-Victoria), Lisa Harris (Miramichi Bay-Neguac), Benoît Bourque (Kent South) and Gilles LePage (Restigouche West).

Losers

Rick Doucet, Fundy-The Isles-Saint John West

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Doucet has been MLA since 2003, so Andrea Anderson-Mason's PC win here was a big upset — the area the riding covers has been red for decades. Anderson-Mason was a first-time candidate.

Doucet was minister of energy and resource development as well as minister for aquaculture and fisheries.

Bill Fraser, Miramichi

But the bigger shock might have been the transport and infrastructure minister's loss — shedding a seat to the People's Alliance. PA candidate Michelle Conroy beat Fraser 47 per cent to 35 per cent, winning one of the party's three seats.

Fraser was first elected in 2006 and had served as deputy Speaker and deputy House leader.

John Ames, Saint Croix

The minister of tourism, heritage and culture was up against a tough competitor — PC candidate Greg Thompson served six terms as a federal Conservative MP, including a stint in Stephen Harper's cabinet.

Add that to the fact the area the riding covers has been largely PC for the past two decades — Ames was just able to squeak out a tight win there in 2014.

He lost by much more Monday night — Thompson had 39.2 per cent and 3,249 of the votes compared to Ames' 29.4 per cent (2,436 votes).

Wilfred Roussel, Shippagan-Lamèque-Miscou​

Just 99 votes separated Roussel from PC winner Robert Gauvin, a first-time candidate.

But the Gauvin name was no stranger to the area. His late father, Jean, was a longtime PC MLA for the area — he was touted as one of the PC's star candidates.

Roussel was a one-term MLA, elected in 2014. He served as minister of agriculture, mines and rural affairs.