David Tilson is heading back to Ottawa

October 21, 2015 · 0 Comments

David Tilson was accompanied by his wife Judith Birchall and daughter Riley as he addressed his supporters after Monday’s election win.

David Tilson was all smiles as he arrived at his victory party Monday night.
Photo by Bill Rea

Liberal candidate Ed Crewson was talking with supporters after Monday’s election results were in.

Green Party candidate Nancy Urekar conferred with her campaign manager Bernadette Hardaker after arriving at her post-election party in Orangeville.

New Democratic candidate Rehya Yazbek was surrounded by friends and supporters Monday night at her home as she watched the election returns on TV.

By Bill Rea
The results were probably closer than he would have liked to see, but they were enough to send David Tilson back to the House of Commons after Monday’s federal election.
According to unofficial figures supplied Tuesday morning by Elections Canada, Dufferin-Caledon’s veteran MP collected 27,929 votes, good for 46.1 per cent of the total cast, with all 268 of the polls reporting. Liberal Ed Crewson was about 4,000 votes off the pace, with 23,610, or 39 per cent. Green Party candidate Nancy Urekar was third with 4,576, followed by New Democrat Rehya Yazbek with 4,498.
Tilson will find himself on the opposite side of the House to which he’s used. The Conservative government of Stephen Harper went down to defeat at the hands of Justin Trudeau and Liberals. As of Tuesday morning, Elections Canada gave the Liberals 184 seats to 99 for the Conservatives, 44 for the NDP, 10 for the Bloc Québécois and one for the Green’s.
“Wow!” Tilson said to his supporters as he addressed his victory party Monday night. “I’m most thankful for what went on here.”
Tilson was grateful to his campaign volunteers for the efforts they put in.
“I think we finally won the sign war,” he quipped. “The best sign in the entire election in the country was right here in Dufferin-Caledon, and it said ‘Elect Darth Vader.’”
He expressed his gratitude to the people who made financial contributions to the campaign.
“If you don’t have funds, you can’t buy signs of have campaign offices,” he pointed out.
The campaign was a long one, and Tilson was appreciative of the volunteers who went door-to-door throughout. He said it was tough on the people who did it all summer, but the advantage is that’s the way to learn what people are thinking. He added the long campaign allowed him more time to get into the farming and rural areas of the riding and meet people there.
“The people in the riding are very friendly, even if they don’t support you,” Tilson observed. “They’re very polite, even when they tell you they don’t support.”
The Tilson campaign was co-managed by Nicole Robins and Kevin Weatherbee.
Tilson also thanked his wife Judith Birchall and their daughter Riley.
“I wouldn’t want to be the spouse of a politician,” he remarked.
He called Monday’s results locally a great victory, but acknowledged the Conservatives lost the government. But he said he will continue to represent the interests of the riding in Ottawa.
“We will hold the Liberals to account,” he vowed.
Tilson had a number of good things to say about his opponents.
“Ed’s a good guy,” he said of Crewson. “He’s a tough competitor. He did his job. He represented the Liberals well.”
“All the other three candidates were outstanding,” he added, “and they performed their jobs well.”
Tilson credited his campaign team for the success locally.
“You can’t win elections without a good campaign team,” he said, commenting on the grind the long campaign would have been. “We had one of the best.”
Referring to the national situation, Tilson agreed there was a mood for change.
“I think the public wanted a change,” he commented. “I could feel it here to a certain degree in the riding.”
He also said the party will have to sit back and have a long look at what went wrong. “The Liberals have won a fairly good majority, and that should tell us something,” he observed.
Tilson also said he wasn’t worried about being an opposition MP, pointing out he’s sat on the opposition side at both Queen’s Park and Ottawa.
“It’s actually easier than being in government, but I’d rather be in government,” he remarked.
There were stories during the campaign that Tory candidates were restricted by the top brass in the party on their contacts with media, attending meetings, etc. That was all news to Tilson.
“No one ever told me that,” he declared, adding he attended the three main all-candidates’ meetings in the riding.
“No one told me to do anything,” he added. “This was our show.”
Crewson seemed a little disappointed in the way things turned out, calling the campaign “a great adventure.”
“This is democracy,” he added. “He (Tilson) got more votes than I did.”
“I think it was a great night for Canada; bad night for Dufferin-Caledon.”
He also expressed gratitude to his supporters and campaign volunteers.
He also said he had no plans to visit Tilson’s party to offer congratulations. “I have friends here,” he explained.
Looking at the national situation, Crewson observed people did not accept the fear sentiments that the Tories showed with Harper.
Locally, he said the biggest problem was overcoming the tradition of voting Conservative.
“We had a great organization,” he said. “Great people; dedicated and hard working, and everyone did their best.”
“It was the tradition of being Conservative,” he added.
Crewson wouldn’t comment on whether we would try running federally again.
“At this point in time, I’m not thinking past a client I have to see tomorrow at 10 o’clock,” he said.
“I’m very glad that we have a new government in our country,” Urekar commented after the results were in. “It was one thing I wanted to celebrate tonight.”
Urekar said she would consider running again, but only federally.
“Those are the issues that matter to me,” she said.
She also said she wasn’t disappointed with the results.
“A lot of wonderful people voted for me, and I met a lot of great people,” she said.
Yazbek said she was pleased with the effort that had been put in during the campaign.
“I think we all put up a good fight,” she commented the following day, pointing to the local surge in the Liberal campaign. “The Liberals took everything everywhere.”
Yazbek also thought a lot of voters might have changed their minds getting close to the election, suggesting that might have been why her numbers and those of Urekar were so low.
“I think we still live in a Conservative area,” she said.
Yazbek also commented on the new Liberal government.
“I would have much rather seen a minority government,” she said, “but it is what it is.”
“It will be interesting to see what he (Trudeau) does,” she added, “if he can actually do what he’s claiming.”
Yazbek said she would be interested in running again.
“I’ve got the bug,” she said. “We’ll see. I’m still an activist, no matter what.”

Newly re-elected MP David Tilson was flanked by his campaign managers Nicole Robins and Kevin Weatherbee in celebrating his victory in Mondays federal election.
Photo by Bill Rea