These incumbent MPs lost their races. Now, they're packing up and saying goodbye

The last item former NDP MP Peter Julian will pack when he leaves his parliamentary office in downtown Ottawa is a single steel-toed work boot.

For more than 20 years, the boot has been sitting in Julian's office — a strong reminder of his focus on advocating for "the needs of regular working people," he said.

The boot was the first thing Julian unpacked when he moved into the office two decades ago. Soon, it will be packed and flown across the country to British Columbia and reunited with its pair, which has been at Julian's constituency office.

"There's a symbolism in it being first but also being last," Julian said. "They help to keep me grounded on what's important."

Julian is one of at least 40 incumbent MPs who lost their seat in the House of Commons last election. In interviews with CBC's The House, some described the moment as more than just losing a job. It's the end of a chapter of their life they've spent years, even decades, writing.

Julian lost his riding of New Westminster-Burnaby-Maillardville to Liberal Jake Sawatzky, one of the youngest incoming parliamentarians. When asked how he's feeling, Julian said he's "fine."

"This is democracy," he told host Catherine Cullen. "Every election, you anticipate the worst and you work for the best."

Others are struggling. In the hallway outside her parliamentary office in Ottawa on Thursday morning, former Bloc Québécois MP Julie Vignola teared up thinking of the people in her Quebec riding of Beauport-Limoilou that she's "left behind."

"The hard stuff is not here," Vignola said as she waited for House of Commons staff to come and check her office was properly vacated. "The hard stuff is in the riding."

More than 1,200 people went to Vignola and her office looking for help immigrating to Canada. She said they signed papers giving her permission to help with their cases.

But those papers were signed to Vignola and her team — not the riding. Because she lost the recent federal election, Vignola said the files have been "destroyed."

"I'm their last resort. I'm the last resource," Vignola said, her voice wavering. "And now they have to do it all over again with someone else. I hope they'll take their situation[s] as seriously as I did."

Two floors above Vignola, former Nova Scotia Conservative MP Rick Perkins was packing up his own office. The most striking feature was a lobster trap which Perkins said replaced a typical coffee table.

"All these dignitaries in Ottawa, they all want their picture taken in front of the lobster trap," Perkins said. "Not by the Canadian flag, but by the lobster trap."