Yukon MP Larry Bagnell stood with his federal Liberal caucus Wednesday afternoon, as it, the Bloc Québécois and all but six members from the NDP provided enough votes to save the long-gun registry.

In the House of Commons, 153 MPs voted to end debate on Conservative MP Candice Hoeppner's private member's bill to scrap the long-gun registry, compared to 151 who voted to bring the bill to third and final reading.

"The outcome wasn't a surprise, since it was a whipped vote,” said Bagnell, who is happy to put the issue behind him.

"I think it's good it's over because there's a lot of other issues to deal with, and we were getting backlogged because we've spent so much time on this,” he told the Star this morning.

The 10-year MP's Liberal colleagues loudly applauded him as he stood up to vote with this party.

Bagnell, who twice voted in favour of Hoeppner's bill, said he had no choice on the matter this time after Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff announced last April that the party would vote against Hoeppner's bill.

Traditionally, MPs from all parties are permitted to vote with their consciences on private member's bills, but in this instance, Ignatieff decided to whip his caucus to toe the Liberal line.

The issue dogged Bagnell through much of the summer as Conservatives responded by parachuting Hoeppner into Whitehorse to pressure the local MP, following that with local radio ads attacking Bagnell's about-face.

On Tuesday, the first day of theYukon's legislative assembly's fall sitting, the conservative Yukon Party government tried but failed to debate a motion urging Bagnell to break ranks with his party.

"It's a difficult issue in the Yukon, as there are strong feelings on both sides,” said Bagnell when asked if this could hurt him in the next general election.

According to a DataPath Systems poll conducted in August – more than three months after Ignatieff's announcement his party was behind the registry – Bagnell had 62-per-cent support from decided voters in the territory.

Ultimately, the Yukon MP believes the Conservative Party's campaign against him and other rural MPs not aligned with the Tories on the long-gun registry backfired.

"I was surprised, because I had a lot more people in the territory phoning me to support the registry this time around,” he said.

Ignatieff offered compromises on the current long-gun registry, including decriminalizing a first offence for non-registration and eliminating onerous paperwork and fees.

These changes, however, would only materialize under a Liberal government, said Bagnell.

"But you can be darned sure I'll be holding our party to account to make sure those changes get in,” said Bagnell.

He then took a swipe at the Conservatives' lust to make this an election issue the next time Canadians go to the polls.

"That's their choice, but they may be having problems coming up with other positive issues.”

Following the defeat of Hoeppner's bill, Prime Minister Stephen Harper vowed to use the issue to rally support for his party in the next election.