BUSINESS AS USUAL NOW FOR LIBERAL CANDIDATE PIERRE LEROUX
For Pierre Leroux it was back to business as usual the Friday morning after Election Night in Ontario.
The Liberal candidate for Glengarry-Prescott-Russell was beaten by one of his fellow members on township council, Amanda Simard, who claimed the riding for the new Progressive Conservative majority government.
“It’s not the result we’d hoped for,” said a sombre and subdued Leroux to several dozen supporters gathered at the Embrun Community Centre June 7. “But I still get to be mayor and I still get to help people, which is what I wanted to do.”
«I’m really happy with my (voting) results,» said Joel Charbonneau of the Ontario Party, «given that we had three weeks to prepare for a campaign. We (Ontario Party) are going to be running a candidate in the riding in the next election.
Other candidates
Libertarian Party candidate Darcy Neal Donnelly expressed disappointment that he gained about 500 votes and not the 1000 or more that was his goal for this election. He noted that the similarity of the party’s name with the Liberal party created some confusing encounters for him during his own door-knocking campaign.
«They were angry at the Liberals and they had the idea that we were the Liberals,» Donnelly said, regarding some of the angry reactions he got when talking with some voters.
Meanwhile, Donnelly indicated, the new Progressive Conservative government under Doug Ford may lose some of its election popularity when it presents its first budget. NDP candidate Bonnie Jean-Louis was not available for comment.
Ready to work with PC government
Francis Drouin, Liberal MP for Glengarry-Presscott-Russell, and Warden Francois St-Amour of the United Counties of PrescottRussell both said they are ready to work with a Progressive Conservative government on key issues for the riding.
“People elect their representative to do a job,” said Drouin. “You have to leave partisanship aside. There are issues we need to work on in a collaborative way.” "We all expect our fair share," said St. Amour. “Our priorities remain the same. It’s just a matter of getting our message across. The situation doesn’t change, no matter who represents us at Queen’s Park.”