Dominic LeBlanc watches 7th straight election victory from hospital

Dominic LeBlanc has been re-elected in Beauséjour riding, but he couldn't address his constituents after his victory Monday night. 

Liberal supporters gathered at LeBlanc's headquarters in Shediac to watch the results come in, but LeBlanc was in hospital in Montreal, recovering from a bone marrow transplant. 

The 51-year-old had planned to address the crowd via Skype but issued a statement instead. 

"As most of you know, I am currently in Montreal recuperating from my bone marrow transplant, which occurred four and a half weeks ago," he said in the statement. "I hope to be in a position to return to Beauséjour in the next few weeks.

"I would much rather be with you all in Shediac this evening. The good news is, I'm going to have a full recovery, and I look forward to seeing you real soon."

Being treated for cancer

This will be the seventh term for LeBlanc, who stepped back from his cabinet duties earlier this year to focus on the  treatment he's getting for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. He is minister of intergovernmental and northern affairs and internal trade.

In his statement, LeBlanc thanked volunteers who helped during the election campaign, as well as voters.

• Conservatives retake 3 New Brunswick ridings from Liberals 

"I truly appreciate their support and look forward to getting back to work as their MP."

Former premier Brian Gallant, who joined other Liberal supporters in Shediac on Monday night, said LeBlanc is "doing really well."

"Anybody that knows Dominic knows he's full of humour and full of life," he said. "He still has that despite the fact that obviously he's gone through all the treatments." 

Gallant said LeBlanc has finished his treatments and should be leaving the hospital in the next few days. 

"I think every family in Beauséjour. Every family across the country, knows what it's like to have somebody go through cancer. They all know that you can have a strong career moving forward. Even though you would've went through that [cancer]." 

Gallant said he and other volunteers wanted to support LeBlanc and his campaign, particularly since he couldn't campaign himself.

• Dominic LeBlanc steps away from cabinet to seek treatment for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma

"We all wanted to step up and do what we can," Gallant said.

"Dominic has been somebody who has worked so hard for this riding, for the people of this riding, and the whole province." 

With more than half the ballots counted in Beauséjour, LeBlanc had a comfortable lead over Green candidate Laura Reinsborough in second place, and Conservative Vincent Cormier in third. 

LeBlanc announced he would be seeking re-election in June, but had to spend much of his time since then in hospital.

"I think the whole team understands that and everybody stepped up and made sure we worked all that much harder for him over the last few weeks," Gallant said. 

LeBlanc was diagnosed with lymphocytic lymphoma in 2017, when he was fisheries minister. Last October, LeBlanc announced that cancer was in remission.

LeBlanc, a childhood friend of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and an experienced partisan, was moved to the intergovernmental affairs portfolio in July 2018.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau temporarily took over responsibility for intergovernmental affairs, while Carolyn Bennett, the minister of Crown-Indigenous relations, took over LeBlanc's duties for northern affairs.