It’s a disappointing time for Huron-Bruce Liberal candidate Charlie Bagnato — and for the entire Liberal Party of Canada.
The candidate seemed confident early on – but hope quickly turned into disillusion as the voting went along.
Bagnato tells Bayshore Broadcasting News he feels there was a big turning point in the election campaign that really hurt the Liberal party.
He says NDP leader Jack Layton called out Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff for missing too much time on parliament hill.
Bagnato tells us it really effected the Liberals in the polls and helped jump start the NDP surge.
Bagnato adds it really brought down Ignatieff’s popularity amongst voters.
Bagnato notes Huron-Bruce residents and the rest of Canadians should be concerned about a Majority Conservative government.
He says in his first term as Prime Minister – Stephen Harper seemed to want all control.
Bagnato says even though it’s not the result he was looking for – Canada has voted for the Conservative majority.
Bagnato says he hopes Harper will be able to get the country past it’s deficit.
A big surprise in the federal election this year was the New Democrats led by leader Layton.
Bagnato gives Layton credit and says he managed a great campaign.
Bagnato feels now that the campaign is over it’s time to move on.
He says he still has a lot left in him and he’s just going to take it easy for a while.
Bagnato adds he isn’t ready to retire.
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HURON-BRUCE
Conservative – Ben Lobb – 28,922 votes (54.7 %)
NDP – Grant Robertson – 13,417 votes (25.4%)
Liberal – Charlie Bagnato – 8,784 votes (16.6%)
Green Party – Eric Shelley – 1,455 votes (2.8%)
Independent – Dennis Valenta – 254 votes (0.5%)
Polls reporting: 232/232 Voter turnout: 52,832 of 77,743 registered electors (68.0%)
