Dufferin-Caledon candidates reflect on election results

By Sam Odrowski

Over 60,000 ballots were cast in the Dufferin–Caledon riding on Monday and the results are in – Conservative incumbent Kyle Seeback will serve a second term.

Seeback won with 46.1 per cent of the vote (30,430), while Liberal candidate Lisa Post saw 32.5 per cent (21,464), followed by NDP candidate Samantha Sanchez with 10.1 per cent (6,668), and Anthony Zambito at 6.8 per cent (4,469). 

When looking at the overall result, Trudeau will maintain a minority government with 158 seats, while the Conservatives hold 119, Bloc Quebecois holds 32, NDP hold 25 and Greens hold two, according to preliminary results. A total of 170 seats are needed to form a majority government.

Following the tallying of the local riding's results, Seeback took a moment to reflect on his re-election.

“Thank you to the residents of Dufferin-Caledon for once again placing their trust and confidence in me for a second term,” he said. “I'm humbled by the support shown to me by my constituents from end to end of this riding. I'm looking forward to building on the progress we've made on many issues important to our community.”

The issues that Seeback remains committed to moving forward include the swift expansion of rural broadband locally, supporting small businesses, supporting the agricultural community, and ensuring seniors are properly looked after.

He added that he's proud of his campaign team's dedication to sharing the Conservative's vision with the riding.

“I'm incredibly proud of what we achieved together over the last five weeks. It was a strong, positive, campaign that remained firmly focussed on the issues important to residents,” said Seeback.

“Dufferin-Caledon can continue to count on me to be a strong, effective voice for our community and will work hard to bring people together. My priorities are the priorities of my constituents, always making myself accessible, and delivering real results. This is the representation my constituents want and deserve.”

Meanwhile, Lisa Post said while she didn't win locally, she's pleased to see that her party will continue to represent Canadians nationally, under Trudeau.

“I think that there's some really important initiatives that need to be brought forward for Canadians, and although I don't get to represent Dufferin–Caledon in the House this time around, I'm sure hopeful that some of those things are going to move forward and be really great for all of our community,” said Post.

She told the Citizen she's very proud of the campaign that her team ran, noting it was very inclusive and focused on engaging youth, while providing a worthwhile experience to everyone involved.

“Campaigns are nasty. Campaigns are absolutely nasty and vicious, and we worked really hard to stay clean, to stay above board, to make sure that everybody who took the time to volunteer for our campaign had a positive experience,” said Post.

“We worked our butts off. We knocked on doors every single day. We talked to as many residents as we could. We stood and listened, and had really open conversations about some of the things that our community needs that they're not getting.”

The best part of campaigning locally, according to Post, was knocking on doors and having meaningful conversations with the residents of Dufferin–Caledon.

“Seeing that I could inspire them or that me being able to listen to them gave them hope,” she said. “Being able to have that feeling is like nothing else in the world.”

Looking ahead to 2023, she said she'd be eager to run again as a Liberal in Dufferin–Caledon.

“I won't stop fighting for the community, no matter what happens next, win or lose. It's all about fighting for the people, so I'll keep doing that in whatever capacity I can,” said Post.

Dufferin Caledon's NDP candidate Samantha Sanchez, who also ran federally for the very first time, said she's pleased with her party's performance, as it's poised to make small gains.

She told the Citizen her reason for wanting to run under the NDP banner was because of their proposed policies that are geared towards supporting everyday Canadians.

“I believe in making everything affordable. I just graduated school, so when I was reading their [the NDP's] platform about doing the debt forgiveness program, it was something that really called out to me,” said Sanchez. “I am a recent lawyer, I just got called and I've accumulated a lot of debt in over the years with my degrees and stuff.”

When looking at her local campaign, she noted that she didn't announce her candidacy until just three weeks ago and didn't get very many opportunities to engage in voter outreach.

Looking ahead to the next federal election in two years, Sanchez said she'll consider running again.

Meanwhile, Jenni Le Forestier, who ran for the Green Party, said she was disappointed with the results of Monday night's federal election.

While she's happy to see Green MP-elect Mike Morrice won the Kitchener–Centre seat she said much more work needs to be done to send more Green MPs to Ottawa.

Over the past five weeks since the election was called, Le Forestier noted that many important issues were pushed aside and it became more of a referendum on COVID-19 vaccine policies. 

“I think that was another big distraction in the election,” she told the Citizen. “That was disappointing to see.”

Instead, Le Forestier said she would have liked to see more of a focus on the climate change, housing prices, and overall affordability.

However, she is pleased with how her campaign went in Dufferin–Caledon.

“We were able to make the case for our local biosphere and for water security, and for all of the environmental issues that are near and dear to me,” said Le Forestier. “I think we brought a level of basic awareness to the environmental issues that would not have been there otherwise, so I'm very proud of that.”

Looking ahead to 2023 when the next election is slated, Le Forestier said she'll consider putting her name forward again as a Green Party candidate.

PPC candidate Anthony Zambito was unavailable for comment in time for print.