Okanagan-Shuswap voters have sent incumbent Conservative MP Colin Mayes back to Ottawa in a resounding victory. The former Salmon Arm mayor had garnered 55 per cent of the votes as of press time Monday to easily top the polls in a third consecutive federal election. Mayes was re-elected in 2008 with 51 per cent of the vote.
“I felt good about the general public support and I’m happy to see the numbers tonight,” said Mayes, who praised his campaign team. “Sometimes you wonder how you’re doing and to have these folks out representing me is great. That’s how you win elections.”
Rookie candidate Nikki Inouye of the NDP mirrored national results as the hospital cook was projected to finish second in her first election with 26.5 per cent of the vote, up from the NDP’s 19.7 per cent in 2008.
Inouye was thrilled with the Canada-wide results which saw her party, under leader Jack Layton, projected to form the opposition in Ottawa.
“We are in, we are the opposition,” said Inouye. “Locally, we didn’t lose anything. This is traditionally a Conservative riding. It’s a hard one. It doesn’t matter. I’m still pretty happy with the national results.”
The Green Party’s Greig Crockett, a retired lawyer, was projected to finish third in the area riding with 10.8 per cent of the vote while Liberal candidate Janna Francis, a retired social worker, was pegged to end up fourth. She had 7.4 per cent of the vote at press time.
“It will be great to see what we can do with a majority to serve Canadians,” said Mayes.
See Wednesday's Morning Star for more election coverage.
