A Conservative stronghold-turned-swing-riding still brought out the blue in voters Monday night to elect Todd Doherty to Cariboo-Prince George.
Doherty secured a narrow lead in the riding, which outgoing MP Dick Harris held for 22 years. But the polls remained tight with second place Liberal Tracy Calogheros trailing by a few hundred votes most of the night.
Doherty said he was not surprised by how close the race was, calling Calogheros "a great candidate."
In the end more than 2,500 votes separated the two, Doherty pulling away with 36.5 per cent and Calogheros with 31.6 per cent.
"I don't know what was more nerve-wracking the year or the last few hours," said Doherty before walking into a room with Queen's We are the Champions playing in the background.
"I'm ready to go tomorrow," said a visibly emotional Doherty who thanked his campaigners for their work and said he was excited and honoured to take on the role.
When asked what won him the riding, he said "I don't know," then paused and said, "Hearts and minds. Hearts and minds."
Doherty said he wouldn't campaign any differently, later calling it the longest job interview he'd ever done.
"Every day we woke up, we were excited," said Doherty, who grew up in Williams Lake and Prince George.
"I will never forget who sent me to Ottawa."
Doherty spoke to a crowd of about 80 people at the Coast Inn of the North, who had for most of the night stood clustered around a TV relaying the election results.
While most held steadfast to the belief that Doherty would keep the riding Conservative, when it became clear Justin Trudeau would be the new Prime Minister, Ben Klassen said it's important all parties support the new leader.
"We need to stand behind Justin now and support him the best that we can," said Klassen, whose family has known Prince George Peace River MP Bob Zimmer since he was a baby.
"We know the family that he came from and the character that he is," said Klassen.
Echoing those comments for Doherty, Avtar Mehanger said the new MP has worked hard for the community.
"He's like family," said Mehanger, who has helped Doherty's campaign for the last year, adding Doherty works "from his heart."
Ben's wife Russella Klassen said the party needs to work to get its messages to the youth - "what it really stands for."
The two said organizers had been hearing as late as Monday that voters were undecided in the riding who they should vote for.
For Ben, he said the national results show Tory organizers "that we have to work harder."
Leonard Timmins, also a longtime Conservative, said he didn't understand why Canadians would vote out Stephen Harper, given his record on the economy.
"I think Harper was a great ambassador on the international market," Timmins said, but that it seemed many voters were really focused on the idea of change.
"I think it's a gut vote," he said of the landslide Liberal victory.
Despite being considered a Conservative stronghold for decades Cariboo-Prince George became contested territory with strong polling numbers for NDP early in the writ period - later zeroed in on by the Vote Together campaign as a strategic voting riding. That effort was organized by Leadnow, an advocacy organization with the declared goal of outing a Conservative government. NDP's candidate Trent Derrick finished third with 25.9 per cent of the vote.
Asked how he felt about Harper's resignation as leader, Doherty said it "really hasn't sunk in."
"I think the world of the man," said Doherty, who most recently worked as 2015 Canada Winter Games' director of revenue generation from late 2011 until the summer of 2014.
The 2015 results upended the landside victory outgoing Conservative MP Dick Harris saw in 2011. Harris has been criticized for being an absentee MP, and more recently made news for his $505,257 expense bill for 2014-15, the second highest in Canada.
The 21-year Ottawa veteran won his riding in seven straight elections, most recently with 56 per cent of the vote. The next closest candidate - NDP's Jon Van Barneveld earned - took 30 per cent and the Greens and Liberals came in distant third and fourth with six and five per cent, respectively. In 2011, voter turnout was 57.3 per cent in the riding; on Tuesday morning it was 68 per cent, not including voters who registered Monday.
Doherty spoke high of Harris, who supported the new MP's candidacy from the beginning.
"Regardless of what anybody says, his record stands for itself," said Doherty.
Further fissures in right-leaning support emerged when Sheldon Clare, president of Canada's National Firearms Association, announced he would run as an independent, in large part due to his opposition to Bill C-51. But Clare finished with few votes and 1.2 per cent of the vote.
Re-elected Zimmer spoke to the crowd by video from Fort St. John before Doherty was declared the winner.
"We're going to hold the Liberals accountable," said ZImmer, MP for Prince George Peace River, adding they will make sure the long gun registry isn't reinstated.
"We have work to do," Zimmer said.
This story has been corrected to say Ben Klassen has known Zimmer - not Doherty - since the MP was a child.
