A Hsu In
It was a nail biting, photo finish in Kingston and the Islands last night, as we elected our next Member of Parliament. When the final ballots were counted, Liberal Party candidate Ted Hsu emerged victorious, netting 2,291 more votes than the second place finisher, Conservative candidate, Alicia Gordon. Mr. Hsu appeared on CBC Radio this morning, where he acknowledged that, while many voters selected his Conservative, NDP and Green counterparts, he is committed to working for and representing all Kingstonians. With a Conservative majority, new leader of the opposition, and far fewer Liberal seats in parliament, it will be interesting to see what Ted Hsu will be able to do for Kingston and the Islands.
While Kingston remains a red riding, it was a train wreck for the party elsewhere in the country. Overall the Liberals were reduced to 34 seats, down from 77, while their leader failed to be re-elected, and he has now tendered his resignation. For the eighth consecutive time, the Limestone City remains a Liberal stronghold, and now we’re surrounded by a sea of blue and orange. Aside from who did or did not clinch a seat, last night’s results tell some interesting stories, especially when they’re compared to those from 2008.
Save for the Greens, all parties enjoyed gains in the overall percentage of votes they received in comparison to 2008 figures. The nationwide NDP surge resulted in an increase of local votes by 3.98%, while the Conservatives were up 2.43%, and the Liberals were up by a small margin, 0.19%. The Green Party attracted 4.23% of total votes in Kingston last night, which was down considerably from 2008 where they recorded 10.82%. At this time it’s a bit too early to determine whether or not Alicia Gordon, Daniel Beals or Eric Walton will run again in the future, but I’d be very surprised if we see any new players next time the writ is dropped.
Suffice to say that our election poll was rather skewed towards Daniel Beals and the NDP, however Ted Hsu ended up on top by a few votes just before Sunday’s midnight deadline. Not only did our election polls receive record numbers of votes, but also voter turnout in Kingston and the Islands was reportedly up in comparison to 2008.
How do you think the local candidates conducted themselves over the course of the campaign? In spite of all the attack ads amongst the federal party leaders, were you surprised by the professionalism and respect they afforded one another during debates and interviews? What role did social media, election signs, and visits from federal party leaders play into the local campaign? How long do you think we have until Canada will return to the polls?
Thanks and credit for today’s photo to TeamTed.
I'll take the last one and predict the next election is Oct 19, 2015 :)…Pretty safe as the only way it cant be is if the CPC defeats itself or a bunch cross the floor. I don't think social media had any role in the local result, local candidates very little role(quite a few new unknown unqualified QC MPs proving how little they matter). The Hsu signs may have contributed to getting enough strategic votes to buck the provincial CPC trend.
A lot of people decided they liked Layton's personality this time, while May was mostly invisible, so we go the minor local % shift that happened.
As for what Ted can do over the next 4 years in Parliament, not sure. CON have a majority, NDP is the opposition and when you are part of the 3rd place party you are in a tough spot.
Although seeing as we had the Speaker of the House who could not vote [unless in a tie] and had to stay neutral at least Ted doesn’t have that to deal with. I met Milliken a few times and he did a great job as Speaker. Idea of all parties agreeing on someone over and over for a decade is mind boggling.
On a funny note check out the front page of The Whig, we all make mistakes but this was a doozy yesterday. They apologize for spelling Ted Hsu incorrectly. I know, you would think that name would’ve been drilled into their heads over the election. Spelled it “TSU” on Tuesday in the main headline on the front page. Oops. The stranger one was they also apologized for calling Daniel Beals, ‘Nathan’ and then ‘Eric’ in the same edition. All right then. This is where Kingstonist is very glad this is a blog and can make easy corrections. :)
Perhaps my memory is fleeting, but this election appeared to be the most spam free of election signs that I've ever witnessed in Kingston. Some credit goes to Eric Walton for keeping Green signs entirely off public property. The other parties deserve some credit too though for keeping things respectable in the weeks coming up to the election.
However sadly on May 2nd, election day, it seemed like the blue Alicia Gordon campaign couldn't take it anymore and plastered whatever remaining signs they had all over the city. On my drive down Sir John A Blvd that morning I saw blue signs every 20ft one after the other. Poor taste and a desparate move.
However I do wonder if the lack of Green signs on public property in Kingston had anything to do with decreased support at the polls. Some people I talked to didn't even realize there was a Green candidate running. Though I think the real reason for decreased support is that the subject of "climate change" has gotten a stale for some. It's unfortunate that Elizabeth May was missing from the debate because her platform has far more depth than just "the environment".