NDP candidate Rathika Sitsabaiesan speaks to supporters at Monday night post-election reception.
The NDP candidate, defeated by the Liberal running in the Scarborough North riding, says that fear played a major role in the public’s decision.
Liberal Shaun Chen won the riding, Monday night, with 48 per cent of the votes. Conservative candidate Ravinder Malhi placed second with 27 per cent, followed by NDP candidate Rathika Sitsabaiesan with 22 per cent. This mirrors results in the majority of the ridings in the GTA as well as the rest of the country. Sitsabaiesan blamed the outcome on the long campaign.
“The NDP was leading for six weeks and then all of a sudden the fear kicked in,” she said. “And (the electorate) decided to vote for the evil that they knew rather than the good that they haven’t had the chance to meet yet.”
The 78-day campaign was the longest in modern Canadian history. Sitsabaiesan hoped that under Chen’s leadership, the policies proposed by the Liberals will transpire into visible change in the riding.
“I hope he delivers real investment into our community because we need to see more jobs. … Everybody is struggling in our community,” she said. “I hope it doesn’t happen like every other Liberal government where … it’s just cuts after cuts after cuts and no real investment in the average Canadian.”
NDP campaign organizer Tania Liu was visibly upset when the results were finalized, but remained optimistic.
“If it’s a minority then we might be back in 18 months,” she said. “This set us a little bit back, but you know, we’ll be back.”