Calling the 2019 federal election "the ugliest six weeks of the past four years," Todd Doherty says he can't wait to get back to business in Ottawa now that he's been elected for a second term representing Cariboo-Prince George.
Doherty held the riding for the Conservatives, defeating the next closest candidate, Liberal Tracy Calogheros.
In his emotional victory speech at the Courtyard Marriott, the 51-year-old Doherty showed his supporters the Parliamentary pin given to all MPs and explained how it gives him access to Parliament at any time on any day. Doherty had his pin made into a ring and told the crowd it was "my Stanley Cup ring, my Olympic gold medal, my Super Bowl ring.
"Being your MP is the greatest honour I've ever had and I will continue to be a strong voice," he said. "My pledge to you is the very same I pledged in 2015. I can't promise you things that are out of my control. I can only promise what I can control, to be the hardest-working member of Parliament. We will be visible and regardless of who you voted for you know you have someone that's fighting for you."
Doherty was obviously disappointed the Conservative vote was not enough to defeat the Liberals, who will form a minority government but was grateful for his new mandate to represent his constituents and hold the Liberals under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accountable.
"While the national count isn't what we wanted, we've had some significant gains and I can't wait to get on the floor and actually kick some ass again," he said.
His top priority for Cariboo-Prince George is to secure a softwood lumber agreement with the U.S. to help stimulate the forest economy and get forestry workers back to work.
Calogheros said she hopes climate change and aboriginal reconciliation remain high on her party's new order of business and predicted the House of Commons won't be so divisive as a result of Monday's election.
"I'm really proud of the campaign we ran, we managed to talk about a lot of things that matter to people and we got out all across this riding and brought a lot of people together in a lot of conversations that mattered," said Calogheros.
It was another successful campaign for Bob Zimmer, who won his third consecutive term for Prince George-Peace River-Northern Rockies by an overwhelming majority.
"The term I would use is bittersweet, we did very well here as a riding and I never take anything for granted but I'm really pleased with the numbers so far," said Zimmer, from his election headquarters in Fort St. John. "The bittersweet part of course is we didn't form a majority like we'd hoped, so we'll see how that's going to play out in the next few weeks to a month to see what agreement the prime minister makes with the NDP."
Zimmer, 51, also wants a softwood agreement but his overriding concern for the country is to begin construction of the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline project from Alberta to the West Coast.
"I just want to see our resources get to market," he said. "(Trans Mountain) is one the current Liberals support and I hope they don't give carte blanche to the NDP and they seek support on an issue by issue basis."
Cariboo-Prince George
Party Candidate Votes Percentage
Liberal Tracy Calogheros 10,265 20.1
Conservative Todd Doherty 26,738 52.4
Green Mackenzie Kerr 4,638 9.1
Independent Michael Orr 328 0.6
NDP Heather Sapergia 7,927 15.5
People's Party Jing Lan Yang 1,116 2.2
Total number of valid votes: 51,012
Polls Reporting: 220 of 228 (96.49 per cent)
Voter Turnout: 51,012 of 84,116 registered electors (60.64 per cent)
Prince George-Peace River-Northern Rockies
Party Candidate Votes Percentage
Liberal Mavis Erickson 5,630 12.3
Green Catharine Kendall 3,065 6.7
NDP Marcia Luccock 4,510 9.8
People's Party Ron Vaillant 1,485 3.2
Conservative Bob Zimmer 31,212 68.0
Total number of valid votes: 45,902
Polls Reporting: 210 of 233 (90.13 per cent)
Voter Turnout: 45,902 of 79,397 registered electors (57.81 per cent)
