Incumbent Liberal MP Ron McKinnon eked out a narrow win in the riding of Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam with all the polls counted and will be headed back to Ottawa as part of a Liberal minority parliament.
With all 217 polls reporting, McKinnon has 34.6% of the votes compared to his closest challenger, Conservative candidate Nicholas Insley with 34% of the votes. NDP candidate Christina Gower — who is in Royal Columbian Hospital tonight awaiting surgery for a burst cyst — is a distant third with 23.3% of the vote.
At the Conservatives' election night party at Westwood Plateau Golf and Country Club, a supporter told The Tri-City News they were "heartbroken" by the result but it wasn't clear whether they were referring to Insley's likely loss or the Tories' national fortunes. Insley arrived shortly after 9 p.m. and was greeted warmly by well-wishers; he stopped to take selfies with several supporters.
Of the local numbers, he said: "We are going to wait a little while yet to see what happens here. But obviously our team has put in a lot of good work. I think it has been an exciting night so far."
Asked about his party's performance nationally, with the Liberals expected to form a minority government, he told The Tri-City News: "We are encouraged. Obviously, we held the Liberals to a minority, which is fantastic. Last I saw we are still leading in popular vote numbers, which is really encouraging. I think the shine has come off of justin Trudeau at this point."
McKinnon, meanwhile, spent much of the evening at his Port Coquitlam campaign office with his supporters, closely watching the numbers roll in.
When he arrived at at Samz Pub in downtown PoCo, about three dozen supporters who had been chowing down on nachos and chicken wings while watching election results on TV greeted him with cheers.
McKinnon called the campaign “very intense and a lot of hard work.”
“Everyone on this campaign worked very hard and we appreciate that and are very proud, and we thank them for being part of it. They had real passion,” he said.
He commended the other candidates for their hard work and their willingness to put their names forward.
And of the voters, he said, “I’m grateful for their confidence and for allowing me to continue to work on their behalf to achieve a better Canada for all of us.”
Asked about the next four years in Ottawa, he said, “We know that climate change is the top of the voters’ minds in this riding. So is housing and affordability. We will be working on these things.”
The voter turnout in Coquitlam-PoCo was more than 53%.
More to come...
