Sylvie Paillard
[email protected]
Squamish residents streamed into the polling stations at Brennan Park Monday (Jan. 23) to take part in the country's 39th general election. Voters came in dribs and drabs at first, but by 5 p.m. many couldn't find parking and they were greeted by a lineup snaking out the facility's doors.
More than 6,000 local individuals voted Monday and despite the vocal support Conservative John Weston received during the local all candidates' meeting, the overwhelming majority of ballots cast went to Liberal candidate Blair Wilson. Although Elections Canada has yet to validate the numbers, local Liberal party volunteer James Martin said the Liberals received just over 2,500 Squamish votes. The NDP squeaked ahead of the Conservatives to take second place in Squamish with approximately 1,700 while the Conservatives were given around 1,600 votes.
The entire riding endured a neck and neck race leaving the candidates' fates undetermined until 9:30 p.m., then the Squamish ballots came in and it was all Wilson.
"Obviously it's bittersweet," said local Conservative campaign organizer Paul Lalli. "I'm very excited nationally we have a Conservative government, unfortunately we weren't successful here."
At the day's end, the riding's voters again chose to go against the national average and elect an MP to sit on the opposition side of Parliament.
"It would've been the first time in 13 years that we would have had an MP in government representing us," said Lalli, "Unfortunately now it's not the case."
The last time the Sea to Sky corridor was represented by a member of the governing party was in 1993 when Conservative Mary Collins was defeated by Reformer Herb Grubel. However, the riding has been represented by government members for 58 of the past 100 years, compared to 42 years by opposition MPs.
The NDP experienced more popularity in Squamish this election than it has since the 12 years the CCF - NDP's forerunner - held the riding. The party's popularity was made evident when NDP scrutineers showed up at local polls for the first time ever. That enthusiasm had to do with the party's best locally organized campaign in the riding's history and the quality of Judith Wilson's campaign throughout the riding, said Squamish campaign manager Barry McLeod.
"The mill closing was very big," said McLeod. "She made a lot of calls, and we got a lot of calls."
McLeod ran for the NDP in this riding in 2001 and said that all the candidates ran good campaigns.
"This time, the riding was blessed with good people," he said.
