The two-and-a-half-year wait is finally over for John Weston.
The Conservative party candidate claimed the seat in the riding of West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country on Tuesday in a federal election night race that was pretty much over before it started.
Heading into the night, many political pundits predicted a close race with a final result not expected until late into the evening. But Global TV declared the riding Weston's at 8:20 p.m. - just a little over an hour after the polls closed - with just 15 per cent of those polls reporting.
Spurred by a strong showing in West Vancouver, Weston continued that upward trend, and when he gave his acceptance speech to party supporters just after 9 p.m., Weston had topped the polls. He'll head to Ottawa as the riding's member of Parliament (MP) with 26,826 votes (44.7 per cent). Liberal Ian Sutherland was second with 15,978 votes (26.6 per cent), while incumbent Green MP Blair Wilson was third with 8,644 votes (14.4 per cent). New Democrat Bill Forst finished fourth with 8,565 votes (14.3 per cent).
According to Elections Canada, voter turnout was strong throughout the riding with 60,013 of 94,144 registered electors casting a ballot. That number represented a 63.8 per cent voter turnout, slightly higher than the 59 per cent voter turnout across the country.
The riding was held for consecutive terms by Conservative John Reynolds before Wilson (then with the Liberal party) defeated Weston by less than 1,000 votes in 2006. This election marks the first time since 1993 the sitting MP in the riding is with the party in power. Mary Collins last held that distinction when she was the MP from 1984 to 1993, when the riding was called Capilano-Howe Sound.
"What a day, what a month, and what a wonderful three-year journey," said Weston during his acceptance speech. "Let me start by congratulating my opponents in this campaign - Ian Sutherland, who just had the grace to come over a few minutes ago, Bill Forst and Blair Wilson. Any time a person volunteers for public service, they and their families deserve our support and encouragement. To different degrees, these three men care about our community and about public service - well done to each of them."
"Speaking of service, what a great leader we have in Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The Prime Minister's visit to our office last night [Monday] with Laureen Harper was the highlight of our great six-week campaign, and it put us over the top. To the Prime Minister and his team, thank you for leading and giving us all a national campaign of which we can all be so proud."
Weston said his campaign was based on honesty and humility, was of good humour and full of energy and ideas - all traits he plans to bring with him to Ottawa.
"I promise to work hard to represent you and your views in Ottawa. I'll be more than your voice - I'll be your advocate, I'll be your representative and your servant," he said. "You've given me your trust and I'll give my best for you. Ours is a party that puts community and country first. Ours is a party that believes in the spirit of innovation and enterprise. Ours is a party that stands up for Canadians at home and abroad. Tonight, my friends, we begin a new chapter in a continuing story, one that is about the future - the future of our communities and of our great country."
Weston said the issue of leadership was the deciding factor in his decisive victory.
"People gravitated towards Prime Minister Harper's strong, stable leadership over the past two-and-a-half years and wanted to see him continue that leadership in unstable economic times," Weston said. Sutherland said the Liberal, NDP and Green parties must all find a way to work together with the latest Conservative minority government to avoid another early election call.
"I think, going into this, people wondered why the election was being called, and now we end up in the same place we were five weeks ago. Clearly, since it is a minority, it's going to be another challenging time," Sutherland said.
Despite the loss, Sutherland said he was happy with how he ran his campaign and what he accomplished.
"It was great. I was nominated one day before they dropped the writ. We've had 35 days and I've criss-crossed the riding and been in every community probably five or six times. I know we've run a good campaign - a very high-level campaign in which we talked about what I believed in and what the party believed in," Sutherland said. "I didn't want to get into the dirt with Blair or John or anyone else. There was really not much that we could have done differently. The good thing is, I can go to sleep tonight knowing that we ran a good campaign, we ran a clean campaign."
As for the future, Sutherland said he's going to enjoy his last few weeks as Mayor of Squamish and refocus his energies into his business and family.
"After a bit of time, I will sit down and talk with people in the riding and the association and see what they feel the appropriate next step is and decide whether I should seek the nomination in the future, but that's for another time. Tonight I want to congratulate John Weston. He ran a great campaign, and I wish him all the best when he goes to Ottawa," Sutherland said.
Wilson said he was grateful for the support he received from the riding and was satisfied with how the campaign went.
"The greatest thing about politics is the friends you make along the campaign trail," said Wilson to his supporters in West Vancouver.
"No matter what party you are with, and I can speak with authority on this, you make great friends along the way. And it's because we all share one thing in common - and that's trying to make a better Canada for everybody. The Green party with Elizabeth May and all her candidates have done an incredible job to get the message out to protect our planet and environment and to create jobs for our kids and grandkids. The Green party has a strong, dynamic future in West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country and across the country."
Wilson said it has been an honour to serve the people of this riding for the past two-and-a-half years.
"The group behind me that has worked so hard the past 35 days has to be proud of the fight we showed and what we accomplished," he said. "We knew going into it that it was going to be a tough fight, but we said we would fight for the right things: fight for the environment, fight for jobs. I'm just honoured to be associated with a party like the Green party.
"I wouldn't say I'm disappointed in the result. For me it's all about the battle, it's all about the campaign, it's all about the fight. We're fighting on the side of right and fighting for a Green future." As for his future, Wilson didn't rule out a return to public service in some capacity.
"Public service is in my blood. I always want to be able to serve my community and serve the people I live with. I don't know how I'm going to be able to do that as we go forward, but it's something that I enjoy and want to do," Wilson said.
Finishing fourth in a four-man race is never an easy pill to swallow, but Forst said he was happy with the energy around his campaign and the gains the party made nationally.
Forst said he had a lot of wonderful people working on the campaign and that he received good feedback on his performance in the all-candidates forums. He said he wanted to make a good presence for the party. With Dana Larsen having to step down and Forst coming in so late in the campaign, it was a case of "too little too late," he said. "But we gained nearly 10 more seats nationally. It means we are a much stronger part of the opposition in a minority government."
When asked where the local party goes from here, Forst said he was undecided whether he would seek the nomination again. He said there are a lot of NDP posters with a few names on them, and to stay prepared for another federal election "we need to show great support in May for [local MLA] Nicholas [Simons] and recognize the great job he's been doing."
Nationally, the Conservatives picked up 16 seats to finish with 143 seats, the Liberals lost 19 seats to finish with 76, the Bloc Quebecois picked up one seat to finish with 49, and the NDP added seven to finish with 37. Two independents were elected.
The Tories held 127 seats in the last Parliament, the Liberals held 95, the Bloc held 48 and the NDP held 30.
