TRURO - Despite failing to beat Conservative Scott Armstrong, Mark Austin remains optimistic his party's fortunes will improve the next time voters go to the polls.
"We're very pleased with the number of votes we did get and the amount of votes we did get across the riding," the New Democratic Party candidate said from his Truro campaign headquarters soon after Armstrong was elected as the new MP for Cumberland-Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley.
Austin said the lower voter turnout played a part in the election, as did the rhetoric from the Conservative Party regarding infrastructure and stimulus funding.
Still, he remains undeterred and plans to get ready for the next campaign as soon as possible.
"I'm just getting started. I love meeting new people," he said.
"I wasn't well known when this started, but I'm looking forward to building on this and creating more opportunities for the vision we have."
Austin realized he was running up hill when the campaign started and hopes to use the experience gained this time for when voters go to the polls again - something Austin thinks will happen early in the spring.
"I think we made some good inroads with a candidate who hasn't gone down this road before. We just ran short of time. I'm convinced a few more weeks would have put us in a more competitive position," Austin said.
While Liberal candidate Jim Burrows finished third in the voting, he was happy to increase the party's percentage of votes.
"My first reaction is it's disappointing. It was a long race, but it was a clean race," he said.
"When you stop and look at the numbers we've increased our vote substantially and we have a nice base to grow on next time."
Burrows said he intends to bring his name forward in the next election, adding he learned a lot during the campaign and made some important contacts.
"I learned a lot and the team learned a lot. We built an organization over the last couple of months and will be able to build on that organizationover the winter to bring in more volunteers," Burrows said. "We'll be ready to go in the next election."
The fact the winner will be joining the government caucus may have played a role in the byelection.
"People see the cheques going to the Conservative ridings and people want the cheques. That's the biggest thing we were up against," Burrows said.
Despite running an aggressive campaign the leader of the Christian Heritage Party, Jim Hnatiuk was unable to woo enough voters to make a difference, finishing a distant fifth behind Jason Blanch of the Green Party.
Independent Kate Graves finished in sixth place.
dcole@amherstdaily.com
Austin stays positive despite loss
Liberal nominee Burrows plans to re-offer as well after going down to defeat in federal byelection
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Comments
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- jubejube
- - February 24th, 2010 at 23:46:12
Ottawa running the NDP campaign????????? Ottawa was the Tory campaign. Phone calls up the ying-yang from Ottawa for the tories.
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- Another 2 Cents
- - February 24th, 2010 at 23:46:00
I have continued to lose faith in the political parties and the electorial system in Canada.
Some people in this riding have such a short memory span about the injustices the cons have done to us.
The other parties are just as bad.
I am only voting Independent from now on. Independents will speak for their constituents and not put a party first.
It is too bad Kate Graves finished 6th.
Whoever runs for independent next time, you need more media exposure, and participation in debates and events.
As a matter of fact, I will help with your campaign! Which will be pretty soon! -
- stumpdummy
- - February 24th, 2010 at 23:45:54
Dairyman that's exactly what will make a difference next time around when people see the truth. Going back to the Harper way is not going to help us here.Harper doesn't like atlantic canada
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- Dairyman
- - February 24th, 2010 at 23:45:49
Maybe Mark should have listened to locals instead of letting Ottawa run his campaign. Now we are stuck with the same old-same old and once again things will never change here.
