Kelley back as Jacques Cartier MNA

By MARC LALONDE

marc.lalonde@transcontinental.ca

Jacques Cartier MNA Geoff Kelley wiped the sweat from his brow as the CTV commentators announced his re-election in his riding. Kelley, who has been dogged by the de-merger fiasco in the West Island and held responsible for rising property-tax bills in Beaconsfield, smiled a wan smile of relief after another convincing victory – his fourth since joining the party in time for the 1994 election.

"I'm very proud of winning locally," he said. "We visited the polls, and we got a very warm response throughout the riding," Kelley said.

That included polls in Baie d'Urfé and Ste. Anne de Bellevue, where mayors Maria Tutino and Bill Tierney had encouraged residents to vote for the Action démocratique du Québec.

"After three terms in office and four years in government, I think voters were happy with my performance," he said.

The same could not be said for his party's leader. Jean Charest went down to defeat in his home riding of Sherbrooke to the PQ candidate there.

"People were out voting and we had some pretty good results," he said, as television-analyst projections showed an early Liberal lead that soon gave way to a surprising ADQ spot atop the polls.

The atmosphere in Kelley's Pointe Claire campaign office went from joyous to unsettled, as the Liberals' lead over the ADQ dwindled little by little. By 9:10 p.m., the ADQ had drawn even with the Liberals and Kelley was no longer all smiles.

He did, however, acknowledge the fact the sovereignty issue seems to be finally pushed off the political landscape with the PQ's third-place finish.

"One thing is clear," he said. "This is a long night for the PQ, which means the long political version of Groundhog Day (the 1992 Bill Murray film where a man wakes up every day to the same day, over and over again) is over and every time we campaign, we're not going to have to get back to the national question issue," he said.