Liberals will gather a final time to say goodbye to defeated MPs
OTTAWA — Federal Liberals will gather Thursday to pay tribute to their political colleagues who were defeated in last month’s election as they continue to digest the message from voters and plan for the coming parliament.
The informal get-together — the first since the election — is meant to “give thanks” to those Liberal MPs who did not win their seats, according to its organizer Mark Holland, the chief government whip.
While the Liberals came out on top in the Oct. 21 vote, it wasn’t without cost, as the party lost 20 seats and about one million votes, and was knocked down to a minority government.
Those defeated included oneterm MPs such as Kim Rudd (Northumberland — Peterborough South), Alaina Lockhart (Fundy Royal), Karen Ludwig (New Brunswick Southwest), Robert-Falcon Ouellette (Winnipeg Centre) and MaryAnn Mihychuk (Kildonan-St. Paul).
Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale, a cabinet veteran, was among the high-profile casualties as the Liberals were wiped out in Saskatchewan, as well as in Alberta, where Kent Hehr (Calgary Centre), Randy Boissonnault (Edmonton Centre) and Amarjeet Sohi (Edmonton Mill Woods), who was the minister of natural resources, all lost their seats.
But despite their diminished caucus ranks — down to 157 seats from 177 — Holland said he doesn’t expect much grumbling about the campaign when Liberals meet Thursday afternoon on Parliament Hill.
“Of course there’s always thoughts that we could do this or that better. I think that everybody knows how hard everyone worked. There’s a real sense of unity around that, a real sense of common purpose,” said Holland, who was re-elected in the riding of Ajax.
Instead, the purpose of the session, which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will attend, is to give the defeated MPs a chance to speak to their caucus colleagues. “We want to say thank you and hear their reflection and thoughts,” Holland said, adding that the opportunity to speak can be “cathartic” to those coping with a bruising defeat.
Holland knows that firsthand after losing his own seat in 2011 after serving as the MP for Ajax since 2004. He won it back in 2015 but recalls his own comments to Liberals after his defeat.
“I saw it as passing the torch to some people I really had regard for, that I hoped would continue fighting on issues that I cared about, and just an opportunity to say goodbye to people that I wasn’t going to be seeing nearly as frequently.
“It tends to be quite personal and emotional.”
Serving as an MP can be frenetic lifestyle, with weekly commutes to the nation’s capital, debates in the House of Commons, committee meetings and constituency work. An election loss means all of that comes to a jarring halt.
“It’s like travelling at100 km/h on the 401 and hitting a brick wall. Everything stops,” Holland said.
“It demands so much of you and you give it because you love it. It’s a tremendous privilege to serve your community,” he added, “and it’s incredibly busy and it’s a life more than it’s a job.
“You really have to accept that it’s over and something else begins. So there’s a mourning that takes place there.”
Holland says he took his own loss “very personally.” But looking back, he now recognizes that his defeat served as an important catalyst to rebalance his life.
“For me, the greatest thing that could have happened to me was losing,” he said.