Election 2008: Ignatieff rolls to win for Liberals

The victorious Etobicoke-Lakeshore Liberal candidate said his party will continue to oppose the Conservative minority government in the new House of Commons.

Michael Ignatieff spoke to constituents at his election night party in Etobicoke following his win over Conservative rival Patrick Boyer Tuesday night.

Ignatieff was re-elected with 47 per cent of the vote.  In his speech, Ignatieff expressed disappointment over Liberal losses, but reassured Canadian voters of his party’s traditional values.

“We are going to oppose a Harper government,” Ignatieff said. “And we are going to oppose it from the centre. We are a party of the centre; we are not a party of the left. And when we hold the centre, my friends, we win from the centre.”

Meanwhile, at Patrick Boyer’s constituency headquarters, a handful of supporters welcomed the Conservative candidate’s return to politics following a 15 year absence. During a sombre party for the veteran politician, constituents appeared tense while awaiting election results just before 10 p.m.

Ignatieff won with 23,247 votes to Boyer’s 17,575 votes. New Democratic Party candidate Liam McHugh-Russell received 5,873 votes, Green Party candidate Dave Corail received 3,501 votes, and Janice Murray of the Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada received 180 votes.

With the recent volatility of world markets in mind, Ignatieff addressed the economic concerns of Canadians.

“I saw my fellow citizens worried about their jobs, their mortgages, their investments, their savings, their economic future,” he said.  “We’re a worried Canada and a frightened Canada. We’re in the middle of the most serious crisis of our generation.”

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Posted: Oct 15 2008 12:11 am
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