Despite a second-place finish behind the Liberal incumbent in Richmond Hill, Thursday night, the Progressive Conservative candidate says he’ll remain active on riding issues.
PC candidate Vic Gupta held his election-night party at Turtle Jack’s Muskoka Grill in Richmond Hill, where family, friends and supporters gathered to watch the results come in. Liberal incumbent Reza Moridi garnered 14,679 votes (46.5 per cent) to win the riding; Gupta earned 11,283 votes (35.8 per cent); while New Democrat Party candidate Adam DeVita finished with 4,191 votes (13.3 per cent).
After thanking his family, campaign manager and volunteers, Gupta reflected one of his priority campaign issues, protecting the contested David Dunlop Observatory lands from outside development.
“I will hold his feet to the fire on that,” Gupta said and then described his work during the campaign. “We did what you got to do. I knocked on 10 to 15 thousand doors. I’m proud of our achievements.”
Gupta’s brother, Rishi Gupta, worked on the campaign as the special events and social media chair and believed that Richmond Hill residents were ready for a change.
“They are looking for change. They are sick of being lied to,” Rishi Gupta said.
Some of Gupta’s supporters, including his campaign manager, Peter Seemann, speculated whether the loss had something to do with voter turnout.
“Provincial turnouts are usually lower than federal ones,” Seemann said.
After working in politics for over 20 years, Vic Gupta has no plans to give up his community service. His immediate plans are to return to the private sector; however, he has not ruled out an eventual return to politics. Gupta said he is open to the idea of running again in another provincial election.
“You never know. You never say ‘never.’ I’m passionate about the public sector,” Gupta said.