Thompson returns with another large majority
Published Wednesday October 15th, 2008
N.B. Southwest Veterans Affairs minister wins for the sixth time
ST. STEPHEN - There were no surprises in New Brunswick Southwest on Tuesday night when Conservative incumbent Greg Thompson was given his ticket back to Ottawa with an increased majority from his romp in 2006.
"When you see the votes come up on the board, it eases your stress level," said Thompson, who took the riding with 58.3 per cent of the vote.
"It feels good, I'm very pleased and very honoured to represent the people of New Brunswick Southwest one more time. As I often say, they are the greatest people in the country and I will do my best to honour the trust they put in me in this election."
The early silence of nervous anticipation among Thompson's supporters assembled at The Masonic Hall in St. Stephen broke out into clapping and cheers when Thompson arrived at the party appearing slightly anxious.
He didn't wear the look for long because not long after he walked through the door, the first results came in. They quickly moved in his favour, and shortly after he greeted his supporters, he was declared the winner.
"I was a little pensive," said Thompson. "You never know until you get here. Although you feel pretty good, you drive around on election day and visit a few polls and the only thing you do is get spooked."
Thompson said that starting this morning, he would be back to looking after the "bread and butter" issues that matter to N.B. Southwest.
In front of a crowd of his supporters, Thompson said he has never embarrassed his constituents, his province or his country and he will continue to work hard for their benefit.
Thompson, a senior cabinet minister in the previous Harper government, was the clear front-runner throughout the election.
Tuesday night was the sixth time Thompson has celebrated a victory. He was first elected in 1988 and was defeated in 1993 by Harold Culbert of the Liberal Party. He earned his seat back in 1997 and has sat in it since; winning elections in 2000, 2004 and 2006.
He won by more than 11,000 votes.
Thompson has gained popularity in every election since 1997 and in 2006 received the highest percentage of popular vote of any New Brunswick MP with 54.8 per cent.
Throughout the election Thompson campaigned on his record which included funding for the third international bridge from Calais to St. Stephen, money to complete the twinning of Highway One from St. Stephen to Saint John, and over $50-million for a new building for the biological station in St. Andrews.
Thompson said he will continue to work with local companies to find solutions that will help get them through tough times and his party will continue to honour tax cuts to businesses so they can keep their costs as low as possible.
Liberal candidate Nancy MacIntosh, of Hanwell, was a distant second with 5,818 votes or 19.6 per cent.
MacIntosh, who worked under Frank McKenna and Andy Scott, promised voters she would strengthen the riding's economy by promoting sustainable energy, increasing the prosperity around the economic gateway, and developing eco-tourism around the Bay of Fundy.
MacIntosh said she was disappointed with the result but had prepared herself for the loss. She said it is a hard riding to earn votes because it is so large and spread out that it makes it difficult to get to meet enough people. Also she was up against an incumbent that is known well across the riding.
"It's difficult to beat an incumbent," said MacIntosh. "There is a trend here, people believe Liberals want to tax their gas. It's not true, but that is a good sound bite so they heard it and believed it"¦ I'm against a person everybody knows his name and I didn't talk to enough people. Usually when you enter politics it takes a couple tries to get in, so there you go."
The New Democrats with candidate Andrew Graham came third with 4,911 votes or 16.5 per cent.
Graham, a woodworker from Saint John, accomplished his goal of increasing support for the party in a largely Conservative riding. Graham was proud of the 15.6 per cent he picked up in 2006 and finished with 19.5 per cent Tuesday.
Green Party candidate Robert Boucher, received 1,667 votes or 5.6 per cent of the vote compared to 2.8 per cent in 2006.
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