The winning Liberal candidate in Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill, says the newly configured riding made the race even tougher.

While Leona Alleslev won the riding, it was by a margin of just over two per cent. She won 47.3 per cent of the vote, while her Conservative opponent, Costas Menegakis, garnered 45.2 per cent. NDP candidate, Brenda Power attracted 5.7 per cent, according to CBC’s Canada Votes website.

Monday, after Alleslev was voted in as the first Member of Parliament to represent the new riding, she held a reception at Turtle Jack’s Muskoka Grill in Richmond Hill. Alleslev said she knew it was a close and tough race.

“We’re a new riding, and we were against a serving Member of Parliament, so a new riding doesn’t necessarily have all of their infrastructure, so we had to build that, build the team, and build the momentum,” she said.

Anton Rosanda, 79, believed that the reason so many people came out and voted for Alleslev was because they believed that their voices would be heard through her and the Liberal Party.

“I think she’s going to be a great MP,” Rosanda said. “She is somebody who listens, and they always say, somebody who is going to listen is a going to be good leader.”