Monday was a rollercoaster of a day I think for all federal parties.
The Conservatives made gains, but at a cost. The Liberals clung on to government. The Greens tripled their seats in Parliament, and the NDP took a beating thanks to a resurging separatist Bloq Party.
Here at home, we saw in Stormont, Dundas and South Glengarry a result that many I think predicted, Eric Duncan, the protégé, taking on the mantle of his mentor, Guy Lauzon.
It was a good night for Eric.
He won a strong majority and brought in a larger plurality of the vote than Guy did in 2015.
I’ve said this publicly before, that no matter your political stripe, Eric will be a good MP. He comes off as a kind and compassionate person, and I think that he will do a lot for individual constituents in SD&SG. Whether he is able to bring real change and improvement to the riding is another matter, especially this term, not being in government.
Eric is a rookie MP, and while he has been a politician his entire adult life, he has never been an MP, and we’ll see how his education in this new job progresses.
On the national level there were a few surprises. The Conservatives made gains. I think they did as well as they were expected to do, but that was not the attitude at the local Conservative watch party. Many were happy that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has not won another majority, but there was also disappointment that their party did not form government.
Will Andrew Sheer stay on as leader? For awhile, yes. No one will be drawing the knives this soon after the election, but before the end of the year, I expect to see public discussions within the party to account for the 2019 election “loss”.
The Conservatives also lost Lisa Raitt, long time Conservative MP for Milton. Her defeat came as a surprise. Just days before the election she was being cast as the female, progressive proxy for Andrew Sheer on interviews on all major networks, so her loss is a surprise, and the party will feel it. I saw her as a future leader someday.
Also, the Bloq did very well, at the expense of the NDP. The only reason I think we don’t have a second Liberal majority government is because of the resurgent Bloq. The dissatisfaction with the other national parties I think, lead Quebecers to look inward.
Even though they are fourth place however, expect to see the NDP exert some influence on Liberal policy. The Liberals will have to be looking over their shoulder every time they table legislation to ensure that the NDP is on side.
Finishing off on local matters, it was good to see the clean campaign that all parties ran, something Duncan said he was proud of in his victory speech, going as far as to say that he made friends on the campaign trail.
Also, a special shout out to Kelsey Catherine Schmitz, who ran a great campaign for the NDP here, and told me that she has a solid plan to keep Eric accountable, and to build on the groundwork she and her team of volunteers laid in this election.
What do you think of the federal election results readers? Email me a Letter to the Editor at nseebruch@seawaynews.media
