Whistler and Squamish are back in step with the federal government for the first time in 15 years. Conservative John Weston, who has essentially been campaigning in the West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country riding for the past 3 years, saw all that hard work pay off on Tuesday (Oct. 14), sweeping to a landslide victory in the race to represent the riding in Ottawa.Weston, who lost by just 1,000 votes to Liberal Blair Wilson in the 2006 federal election, garnered 44.7 per cent of the vote this time, easily outdistancing Squamish Mayor and Liberal candidate Ian Sutherland (26.6 per cent), MP for the Green Party Wilson (14.4 per cent) and New Democrat Bill Forst (14.27 per cent).Weston becomes the first representative of the party in power in the riding since Mary Collins, a Progressive Conservative, last served the riding of Capilano-Howe Sound in 1993.Weston, a Harvard-educated lawyer, earned that distinction when Stephen Harper's Conservatives won their second consecutive minority government, increasing their number of seats nationwide to 143, but falling short of the 155 needed for a majority."It's really exciting," Weston told the Powell River Peak about an hour after he had been declared the winner. "It's humbling, it's rewarding for all of the wonderful people who worked with me for three and a half years."Being on the government side will help the riding, Weston said, "especially as the world turns its attention on our riding with the Olympics coming. "I think we should benefit from investment, from tourism, and from business. We should have some legacies that help people on both ends of the economic spectrum."Sutherland said while he was "obviously disappointed," he felt good about the campaign that he and his supporters had run. "I'm very proud of the fact that we stayed focused on the issues and remained very positive throughout," he said. Based on what the Liberal Party was dealing with in the riding, Sutherland said, the results were "fairly reasonable." He acknowledged Weston "put a lot of time and energy" into the riding since the last federal election in 2006.Now he's looking toward to the future."I have another few weeks in my term as mayor," he said. "I have a business that I need to spend more time working on after spending the last 35 days campaigning. "After a bit of time wet 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." Wilson, however, said he wasn't disappointed. "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. You win some, you lose some and you come back to fight another day. If you are a candidate you have to be prepared to get bumped around a bit. You move on to fight another day."He acknowledged the difficulties he faced throughout his mandate as MP as influence on the election outcome."The Election Canada issues, the other allegations, the continued discussion on family matters - all just sort of chips away at it and it has some play."Forst, who stepped in as the NDP candidate after the election had been called when Dana Larsen stepped aside amid controversy over his past drug use, said that while he was pleased with how the campaign went, his candidacy was ultimately "too little, too late."Forst said he was pleased that Jack Layton's New Democrats gained seven seats across the country."It means we are a much stronger part of the opposition in a minority government," he said.Forst expressed dismay that he finished fourth behind Wilson, who was elected as a Liberal in 2006, left the caucus in late 2007 to deal with allegations of campaign spending irregularities, and served the riding as an independent for almost a year before joining the Greens on the eve of the 2008 election."It is disappointing to me that a newly minted 'Green' did so well compared to me, who has lived an entire life of being environmental and trying to leave a low-impact footprint," Forst said.Check out who students chose in our coverage of Student Vote 2008, page A15.-with files from Ian Jacques, Coast Reporter and Laura Walz, Powell River Peak
