Peggy Revell
THUNDER BAY—While cheers for orange arose at one end of Thunder Bay last night, there was a more sombre and heavy-hearted tone at the other end of the city as Liberal incumbent Ken Boshcoff stepped up to the microphone around 11 p.m. (EDT) to concede victory to NDP challenger John Rafferty.
Despite the advantage of being an incumbent, Boshcoff unofficially garnered 11,589 votes (32.28 percent) in yesterday’s federal election, which was down from the 13,520 votes (35.13 percent) that returned him to Ottawa in the 2006 election.
“You’re probably wondering, ‘How can I be smiling?’” Boshcoff said to his supporters. “I have no pension, and no regrets except for one really major regret.”
His staff, he explained, has helped thousands of people over the last four-and-a-half years—a helpfulness he said was brought up by people when he was knocking on their doors this election campaign.
“I’m very disappointed that all of you can’t keep working with me because I know that we only had one goal, and that was to make
Northwestern Ontario a better place in which to live,” Boshcoff said.
“All my life I’ve dedicated to the northwest, and given my heart and soul. I think people know that,” he added. “So when I see my family and my friends who came here, who believe in me, I think when it all comes down, hopefully people will remember and they will say Ken Boshcoff’s office made a difference.
“You never go into any election too optimistic,” Boshcoff remarked as the evening wound down, shaking hands with his supporters as they began to file out of the hall.
“But I had really been hoping, especially since I’d been to the district 25 times this year alone, that I had demonstrated my commitment to the Rainy River District. So I’m kind of disappointed in that, of course.
“But I know that I could not have, humanly, worked harder.
“Clearly it was a question of national leadership,” Boshcoff said as to why most voters in Northern Ontario turned to the NDP yesterday instead of the Liberals. “And many times people would say that they liked me but they were having a difficult time with Mr. Dion.
“So I had still hoped that my commitment and my experience would overcome that, and it didn’t.”
But, he added, the results are just a part of living in a democracy, and people know what they want.
While he now has to find a new job, Boshcoff also said he’s offering his support to Rafferty as he transitions into his new role as MP so that the job of representing the area will continue.
“I wish everybody well in their career because Northwestern Ontario has to stand together,” he stressed.
Meanwhile, Conservative candidate Richard Neumann came in third, unofficially capturing 8,466 votes (or 23.58 percent). That was down from the 2006 election, when former candidate David Leskowski also finished in third, but with 10,485 votes (27.24 percent).
“We are very much buoyed by the national results and the fact that the Canadian people decided to return our government and our prime minister to power,” Neumann said last night.
“Locally, I can’t say that we’re not disappointed. We were in this to win,” he noted. “I think we all thought that we would do better than we did.
“I would say that from the standpoint of the campaign itself, I couldn’t have asked anymore of the volunteers, and I should mention my manager up [in Fort Frances], Ken Preston, who spent day in and day out in the campaign office there and did a fantastic job for us.”
While the election is now over, Neumann said it is time to analyze what happened—but also begin the process of holding Rafferty to account for the promises he made on the campaign trail.
Rafferty ran a very strong campaign, Neumann conceded, and wished him the very best because “whether you happen to be Green, Conservative,
Liberal, or New Democrat, it’s in all of our best interest that John Rafferty is successful from this point forward in representing us.”
Green Party candidate Russ Aegard once again came in fourth with 1,377 votes (3.84 percent)—up by a couple of hundred from his 2006 total of 1,193.
He could not be reached for comment last night.
