AMHERST - Considering his party had no base to start with when the byelection was called, Christian Heritage Party leader Jim Hnatiuk feels his team did a remarkable job.
While it didn't translate into enough votes for him to become the next MP for Cumberland-Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley, Hnatiuk said the party now has a base to build on for the next vote.
"From the perspective of the campaign and putting together a 36-day campaign for a party that was completely new to the riding, I think we did a phenomenal job," Hnatiuk said. "We poured a phenomenal amount of resources and personnel into this and we ran a strong campaign. We were toe to toe with all the candidates. I think in a number of ways we exceeded what the other candidates were doing."
When the dust settled, Conservative Scott Armstrong won the byelection taking 45.8 per cent of the vote while Hnatiuk finished in fifth taking just 776 votes, or 3.2 per cent of the vote.
Hnatiuk said the challenge was introducing a new party to the electorate - a party that has not run a candidate in the riding since the early 1990s.
"We have a very good foundation on which to build a party in this riding," he said, adding the party will continue to build on its support among small C Conservatives. "We're looking forward to growing and building on that foundation."
The party leader said he is disappointed with the coverage of his party in the mainline media, adding while the local media was fair in its coverage the major media outlets seems to focus on the top three parties.
Hnatiuk said the party will run a candidate in the next election and will not rule out running himself, considering he lives in the riding. He also plans to stay on as party leader.
Green Party candidate Jason Blanch, who picked up 807 votes to finish fourth, is happy with the support he received, adding the party did not run a candidate last year out of respect to Bill Casey.
"Woodrow Wilson said he'd rather lose for a cause that would win some day than win for a cause that will some day lose," Blanch said. "I thought that a fitting way to describe my campaign."
Like CHP, Blanch had to build his support from scratch and did better than previous Green candidates in the riding. He admitted that he has a long way to go before the party gets the support it needs to send an MP to Ottawa.
Blanch said he intends to be the Green Party candidate next election.
"I see the level of support growing," he said. "It was tough starting out because there was no base of support here at the beginning. I have received a lot of encouragement with people saying I have to run again next election."
dcole@amherstdaily.com
