Canadians were looking for a new boss, says Clement of election results

There were no real winners in the riding of Parry Sound-Muskoka on election night. While Conservative Tony Clement managed to hang on to his seat, like his provincial counterpart he will now be representing this riding as a member of the Official Opposition.

Unofficial results as of midnight on election night showed the Liberals, under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, will form the next government with 39.5 per cent of the votes at 184 seats. The Conservatives, under Stephen Harper, took 32.1 per cent of the vote at 100 seats.

Clement held key positions under a Conservative government. He was Minister of Health, Minister of Industry and, most recently, President of the Treasury Board.

Asked what he now thinks will be his biggest challenge as a member of the Official Opposition, Clement said, “I think part of my role changes, obviously I’m not a Minister of the Crown, but part of my role now is to hold the government into account. In a free and democratic society you need an opposition that asks the tough questions and digs deep to find out what’s really going on, on behalf of the people.”

Clement said in terms of representing the people of Parry Sound-Muskoka, his job remains pretty much the same. “I’m there as their advocate. I’m there as their helper, as I said tonight I’m in their corner.”

When asked what the future holds for Stephen Harper, Clement said:

I’ll let Mr. Harper in his time reflect on that, but clearly we’ve got to turn a page and we’ve got to re-attach Conservative values and principles to the hopes and aspirations of Canadians.Tony Clement

He said renewing your party to make it relevant for the future is a good process to go through.

When Clement was asked during a media scrum by a television reporter if he had any future leaders in mind for a renewed Conservative Party, Clement smiled and said, “Well I think we’ve got lots of future leaders. So let the future leaders sort that out.”

In terms of the Conservative upset on a national level, Clement attributed the defeat to a change of tides.

“Ten years is a long time in today’s politics to be in government and what I got at the door was, ‘look we like you but you know we think it’s time for a new boss.’”

Clement said he would’ve preferred to have seen that change in the next election rather than this one, “but that’s the people’s choice. I never second guess the people. They are always right.”

Trisha Cowie calls results bittersweet and promises to stay in politics.

Liberal Party candidate for Parry Sound-Muskoka Trisha Cowie congratulated Tony Clement on his win and called the outcome bitter-sweet.

Cowie received 19,936 of the votes in Parry Sound-Muskoka, to Clement’s 22,204 votes.

“We have given the Conservatives a real scare in this election,” she said, adding that it’s been a learning experience but by no means the end of her political career.

She noted that the Liberals have more than tripled their vote count since the last election and joked about Clement joining his boss in retirement the next time around.

Cowie thanked her family, especially her son Ronan, as well as all of her supporters for sticking by her and working hard during the campaign. And she said Ottawa is about to change. “There will be diversity in Ottawa,” she said, referring to different voices forming part of the political landscape such as that of women and people from First Nations.

I want to be ready for the next election. There is much more political work to be done.TRISHA COWIE

NDP Party candidate Matt McCarthy, who got 5,203 votes, said the national election results making Justin Trudeau the Prime Minister of Canada were somewhat expected.

The NDP met at Nick’s Restaurant in Bracebridge to await election results.

He said most people he spoke to said they were ready for change. “One of the first things people said is, ‘I know who I’m not voting for.’” McCarthy said he’ll be waiting to see if the new Liberal government does in fact embody the change people were hoping for.

Locally he congratulated Clement for his win and said he has a lot of respect for anyone who devotes so much of their life to public service, with one caveat: “I do hope that he will recognize the change that people were voting for as well.”

He said he hopes nobody takes the people of Parry Sound-Muskoka for granted.

“The Parry Sound-Muskoka NDP will be continuing to work to make sure that the kind of changes that people were voting for, that they are recognized in Tony’s work,” he said.

In terms of the experience of running for the first time, McCarthy said he could not think of a better way to spend almost two months than by having an opportunity to talk and share ideas with people in the riding. He said he would remain involved in the political process.

Greens met at the Old Station Restaurant in Bracebridge to watch election results.

Green Party candidate Glen Hodgson, who garnered 3,684 of the votes in Parry Sound-Muskoka, said while he remains concerned with parts of the Liberal platform, he is glad Stephen Harper is gone. He referred to Stephen Harper’s time in office as turbulent and divisive, but said the electoral experience locally was a good one, as candidates were respectful and gracious.

He promised to continue working in the riding to champion Green Party policies, many of which have made their way onto the platform of other parties. He said the Greens will quietly persevere and some day get elected.

“We were happy with our message and the support that we had from the people in this riding. We are also pleased to see the end of the Harper years. I will be watching to see that within a year, Justin Trudeau will make good on his promise of electoral reform so that we can get more Greens elected in four years,” said Hodgson

“The Liberals borrowed a lot of the Green Party message during this campaign and I hope they weren’t empty promises. We need to see some real action on climate change, health care and support for our youth,” he added.

Pirate candidate Gordon Bell got 122 votes and Canadian Action Party candidate Gordie Merton got 88 votes, while Marxist-Leninist Party candidate Albert Gray Smith got 40.