There was no zip at Ryan Leef’s campaign headquarters Monday night. Not like there was four years ago, when the Conservative MP unseated Liberal stalwart Larry Bagnell.

There was no buzz or pop in the small to modest crowd who gathered to watch the returns, no freshly printed T-shirts boasting Leef’s name, like there were in 2011.

As party supporters watched the Liberals sweep across the country, beginning with Atlantic Canada, there was a shade of disbelief.

There was resentment of how national pundits were predicting the possibility of a Trudeau majority even before local polls closed.

“It’s not the end of the Conservatives, it is a new beginning, and you can all be part of that again,” Leef told a gathering of some 40 supporters as his loss to Bagnell was all but confirmed.

He said the party will rebuild, because it has to, as Canadians clearly indicated last night.

But not to worry, Leef assured, the Conservatives have and will rise again.

Leef encouraged his fellow Tories to stand behind the Liberal elect, to give him their support because he will need it as he works to advance the territory’s issues in Ottawa.

“It’s a pretty tall order right now because that was a pretty hard sting,” he said in the wake of the Liberal onslaught locally and nationally. “We have our values and we still have those values; it’s just not what Yukoners wanted this time.”

Leef thanked his campaign team, emphasizing their dedication and hard work was the cornerstone of Conservative success, past and present.

As the Liberal tsunami washed away the blue across the country, it did so here too.

From the earliest returns, Bagnell was out front by large margins, taking 45 and 50 per cent of votes cast, poll after poll. For the rest of the night, the competition needed binoculars just to catch of glimpse of the leader.

While Leef placed second with 4,800 votes, or 24 per cent of the votes cast, Bagnell received a smoking 53.6 per cent of the popular vote – 10,715 votes in all. NDP candidate Melissa Atkinson placed third with 3,890 votes and Frank de Jong of the Green Party received 577 votes.

Conservative Senator Dan Lang arrived early at party headquarters with former Yukon Party cabinet minister Archie Lang, and he was among the last to leave.

Early on, it was obvious to Lang the Liberals would win, but at that point, the senator was predicting a minority government, not the mammoth majority Prime Minister-designate Justin Trudeau was able to pull together.

When you’re in government, you have to make tough decisions, and tough decisions alienate some people, said Lang, while watching red move east to west across the flat screen TV.

“It’s almost like the shelf life of government is 10 years, good, bad or indifferent,” he said. “I think Ryan has acquitted himself very well in Ottawa. He has been able to articulate Yukon’s point of view on numerous subjects.... He deserves a second chance.”

But it was not to be, not even close.

Carol Leef, Ryan’s mom and driver who took him to Bagnell’s headquarters later on for the traditional congratulatory handshake, said more than anything, it was the wind of change propelling last night’s Liberal victory.

“I am surprised people are not thinking a little bit more seriously about what it means to have a very young and inexperienced prime minister,” she said.

“However, that is the democratic process.

“I did not expect a majority. All I know is that he has worked his heart out.”

The wind of change, as Leef’s mom described it, a 10-year shelf life as Lang put it, seemed to be the solace the party faithful embraced, as though it was time and time alone that brought about defeat, not Conservative policy and legislation.

One supporter said everybody’s he’s talked to either in the coffee shop or on social media predicted an anti-Stephen Harper movement, not an anti-Conservative vote.

And as another described the wind of change: “The grass is always greener on the other side, until the grass stops growing.”

Pat McInroy, the Yukon Conservative Party president, said late in the evening he was already concerned about what a new Liberal government in Ottawa will mean for his local business.

He’s concerned there’ll be a very real impact from the Liberal increases in unemployment and Canada Pension Plan contributions.

Leef’s defeat, said McInroy, was not linked to any specific issue, such as Bill S-6, the legislation to amend the territory’s environmental review process that raised the anger of First Nations and many other Yukoners.

The party president said the only time he heard S-6 mentioned was during the debates, and he did not hear it at the doorstep.

“I worked hard, everyone on this team worked hard,” he said. “We have everything to be proud of.”

McInroy acknowledged the Conservatives had their butts kicked locally and nationally.

“Now we do what responsible people do: we assess, and we carry on.”

Leef said early in the evening, he started off election day by putting up signs before he took advantage of the beautiful weather for his afternoon run “to grab some of my own space back,” as he often does.

He was not pre-occupying himself with the numbers game.

“Once it’s in the hands of the electorate, I just let it roll,” he said.

And roll it did, right over the blue machine.

“There is the natural life cycle of every government,” he said afterwards in defeat.

Like his party president, Leef dismissed any suggestion his loss was tied to specific issues, such as Bill S-6.

He said many issues have come and gone over his four years in office. Looking back, said Leef, there are many tangibles, many successful community projects and improvements the Conservatives forged for the Yukon.

“Justin Trudeau is young and dynamic, and everybody started grabbing onto that, and once it started, it was very difficult to stop,” he said.

In his address to party supporters before leaving for the obligatory visit to Bagnell’s camp, Leef encouraged his party supporters to celebrate, celebrate democracy and celebrate the results.

“Don’t worry, the sun will come up tomorrow morning,” he said. “Our party will get stronger.”

Leef said he was not going anywhere, that the Yukon is and will always be his home, though the ex-RCMP and conservation officer hasn’t given any thought to what his next career choice might be.

“You have made my job,” he told the gathering. “We have been part of the national discussion like never before, and people have taken notice.

“I can assure you this is not the last you are going to see of me in politics.”