Liberal candidate Wayne Long has kept his seat in the riding of Saint John-Rothesay.
After a neck and neck race with Conservative Rodney Weston, Long pulled ahead with over 14,000 votes, or roughly 37 per cent. Weston received just over 13,000.
Talking to media Monday night, Long says he’s looking forward to getting back to Ottawa and showing his constituents what he can do for them.
“I’m going to be aggressive and I’m going to speak very very often and I’m going to speak very very loud on behalf of Saint John-Rothesay and continue to deliver things for a riding and especially for a city that deserves it,” he said.
Long says he has nothing but respect for Weston, and wishes him all the best. He says ultimately the race came down to their “style” of politics.
“Rodney Weston was the member of Parliament for Saint John for three different terms. I always felt that we needed a different style of representation, a louder style of representation—somebody that would go to Ottawa with a plan; not just to knock on doors, but kick down doors,” he said.
Weston humbly admitted defeat Monday, but says he’s looking forward to getting back to his normal job, and spending more time with family.
“It’s hard to feel bad, you know. I’ve had the opportunity to do these things, and like I said, it’s not the results you wanted but you recognize that going into it that you can lose,” he said.
Weston says despite his results tonight, he still feels positive about the Conservative’s performance in New Brunswick.
“I’m a firm believer of things happening for a reason,” he said to the crowd, getting slightly emotional as he thanks everyone for their support over the past 25 years.
“It’s not what we were working towards but you know that’s the point of elections, there’s going to be winners, there’s going to be losers, and tonight it just wasn’t in the cards for us. I think we made some progress. Obviously, when you look at the results from 2015 to 2019, the margin is a lot closer.”
In other results, it was a close race between NDP candidate Armand Cormier and the Green Party’s Ann McAllister: Cormier got almost 5,000 votes while McAllister got almost 4,000.
People’s Party Adam Salesse received just over 1,000 votes. As did independent Stuart Jamieson. Independent Neville Barnett received just under 150 votes.
According to Elections Canada, 61 per cent of residents in Saint John-Rothesay cast a vote in this election.
