Scarpaleggia back in opposition setting

Scarpaleggia said he is very proud of his campaign, taking time to thank his volunteers and supporters at about 10:30 p.m., shortly after being declared a winner.

“I truly believe we were the only party that had a complete and comprehensive platform for the 21st century,” he said in an interview afterwards in regards to another minority Conservative government being elected. “What it means is we have a government that really didn’t propose anything new in its election platform. There was nothing that defined (the Conservative) election platform.”

Scarpaleggia said the Liberal‘s Green Shift policy was supported by many economists and scientists. “We were going to restructure the economy for the 21st century. An economy with low taxes that encourages companies to go green.“

He said the Conservatives managed to confuse voters with their attacks on their Green Shift, playing up the carbon tax. He said the Liberal policy planned to reduce income and corporate taxes while making polluters pay. As a member of the official opposition, Scarpaleggia said he will invest his time in Ottawa working on committees dealing with water and the environment.

Meanwhile, Conservative candidate Andrea Paine, the runner up in Lac St. Louis for the second straight election, said she is happy with her results.

“There is only so much a local candidate can do and the rest is up to the national campaign,” she said. “We did the best job we could.”

Paine is set to go back and work with the Conservative government in some capacity.

She said the local debates were the most negative part of her campaign as she felt the other parties were “ganging up” on her.

Although still a minority government, Paine said the Conservatives are “knocking on the majority door” and gained some seats from the last election. “It means we’re going in the right direction. It means we’re doing something right.”

The Conservatives have to reach out more to English-speaking Quebecers in order to gain seats like Lac St. Louis. “We need to do a little bit of work in explaining to the English-speaking population and proving to them we are the federalist option. I still think there is work to be done.”

NDP candidate Daniel Quinn took his third place finish in stride and rejoiced over his party's victories, such as Beaconsfield resident Thomas Mulcair’s re-election in Outremont, and the fact he garnered close to 20 per cent of the popular vote.

“My support went up,” said the three time candidate. “It's part of the NDP’s larger building process. Five years ago we were basically nonexistent (in Lac St. Louis).”

Quinn said the Conservative's minority government status proves Canadians didn't support Stephen Harper and his policies. “The majority voted against his platform,” he said, citing the combined votes for the NDP, Liberals, Green Party and the Bloc.

Quinn didn’t rule out the possibility of running in a fourth campaign.

The Green Party’s Peter Graham placed fourth while the Bloc’s Maxime Clement came in last of the five Lac St. Louis candidates.



Lac St. Louis 2008 results

Liberal: Francis Scarpaleggia 23,845 or 46.37%

Conservative: Andrea Paine 12,085 or 23.50%

NDP Daniel Quinn 8,111 or 15.77%

Green Party Peter Graham 4,415 or 8.59%

Bloc: Maxime Clément 2,964 or 5.76%