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Video: Conservatives declare victory in Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge

Tory’s Marc Dalton apparently steals seat from incumbent Liberal MP Dan Ruimy
Black Press Media
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Conservative candidate Marc Dalton accepts election as Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge’s new MP.

Technically, it’s still not over. At this point there are 95 local polls counted in this riding, and from almost the beginning the Conservatives have held a consistent lead.

Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge has 28 polling stations (183 polls) representing a total of 79,960 eligible voters on the list of electors in Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge. With 26,081 votes counted, Conservative Marc Dalton is out in front with 9,653 of those votes (almost 37 per cent) followed by incumbent Dan Ruimy with 7,571 (29 per cent) of the votes. This initial number represents only 52 per cent of eligible voters.

At the Liberal headquarters, the incumbent Dan Ruimy is watching numbers came in across the country, thus far putting his party ahead.

“I believe we’ve built up enough goodwill and positive results to deserve a second chance,” he said.

“I did not get involved in the mud slinging. I don’t believe in that,” the Liberal hopeful shared at his campaign office tonight. “I believe u need to be able to work with whatever party’s in place. That’s how u get stuff done.”

In the NDP camp, the team is waiting for results, where a former candidate offer his thoughts.

“I thought our candidate ran a very good campaign,” said Craig Speirs, who was the NDP candidate in the 2011 federal race.

“He was engaged at every level and really did a good job. I don’t think we could have got much more out of him,” Speirs said of Mogk.

“We’ll get a fair amount of New Democrats as we go west, with the stumbling block being Alberta. I think B.C. will produce a fair amount of MP’s which is good. I don’t think Trudeau deserves a majority. I think he should have a minority where he has to consult with other party’s and maybe we will actually get some electoral reform.”

Meanwhile, at the Conservative camp, former BC Liberal MLA Marc Dalton shared a few thoughts just before the polls closed.

He and his team have been working hard on a door-to-door campaign, seeing the riding as up for grabs.

All the polls say the parties have been running neck and neck, with no clear frontrunner, he said.

“And B.C. is very much in play,” Dalton elaborated.

In the last election, the race in this riding was very close between the three major parties, with the Liberals at 34 per cent, Conservatives 31 per cent and the NDP 30 per cent.

“It could be close again,” said Dalton.

During the four days of early voting that took place Oct. 11 to 14, people across the country took advantage of this election’s more convenient voting times, 12 hours a day of advance voting, compared to only eight hours in the 2015 election.

Nationally, 4.7 million people voted in the advance polls, which worked out to 29 per cent more people voting early compared to the 2015 election. In Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge, 14,287 people showed up early to vote this election.

That compares to 9,171 advance ballots cast in 2015 in this riding and is a 56-per-cent increase.

Last election, Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge produced a respectable turnout, with 72 per cent of a total of 72,6735 eligible voters showing up to vote.

In the 2015 election, Dan Ruimy rode the Liberal wave, taking the seat for then-rookie Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

But in 2015, it was a close, three-way race in the swing riding with only two percentage points separating Ruimy (33.9 per cent of the votes) from Conservative Mike Murray (31.4 per cent) with NDPer Bob D’Eith in a solid third place with 29.6 per cent. D’Eith is now MLA.

In real numbers, Ruimy in 2015 won 17,673 votes, Murray won 16,373 and D’Eith, 15,450.


pmelnychuk@mapleridgenews.com
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