mytiletown.ca W E D N E S D AY , O C T O B E R 2 1 , 2 0 1 5 ! Liberal candidate Joe Peschisolido, far left, is paraded into his campaign office after being elected as the first ever MP for the new StevestonRichmond East riding. Peschisolido was voted into office in 2000 as an Alliance Party of Canada candidate, but crossed the floor to the Liberals in 2002. Meanwhile, the Tories’ Alice Wong won a nailbiter with the Liberal’s Lawrence Woo to gain a third term as MP for Richmond Centre. Photo by Kevin Hill/ Special to the News. See more photos online at Richmondnews.com.ca
What’s inside:
NEWS: Frantic vote counting defined Richmond Centre 3
Election joy for Joe, Wong Eve Edmonds
Editor eedmonds@richmond-news.com
‘I
t may be night, but it’s a new day for Steveston-Richmond East; it’s a new day for Richmond Centre; and it’s a new day for Canada, and this sounds good, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.” This was how Richmond’s first ever Steveston-Richmond East Member of Parliament, Joe Peschisolido, began his victory speech at his campaign office packed with volunteers and supporters. Peschisolido spoke too soon as far as Richmond Centre was concerned, where the Liberal’s Lawrence Woo was ahead in the polls at the time, but ended up losing to incumbent Conservative MP Alice Wong. Nevertheless, Steveston-Richmond East did appear to catch the Liberal momentum that swept the country Monday night. While it looked like a tight race between Peschisolido and Conservative Kenny Chiu as early polls came in, Peschisolido took the
lead and maintained it throughout, eventually winning with about 45 per cent of the votes (19,486) against Chiu’s 38 per cent (16,630). “I look at this room, and this is why we won. Every morning I got up, and every morning it got harder to get up, but I knew everyone in this room and others had my back. And tonight I say to you, thank you.” Peschisolido went on to thank numerous individual members of his campaign team, calling them to the front, hugging and kissing Steveton-Richmond East Liberal Joe Peschisolido - 45.1% (19,486) Conservative Kenny Chiu - 38.5% (16,630) NDP Scott Stewart - 12.1% (5,248) Green Laura-Leah Shaw - 3.7% (1,587) Libertarian Matt Swanston - 0.6% (274) Richmond Centre Conservative Alice Wong - 43.5% (17,693) Liberal Lawrence Woo - 42.3% (17,230) NDP Jack Trovato - 11.3% (4,613) Green Vincent Chiu - 2.8% (1,152)
each one in turn. He wrapped up by saying, “I’m honoured and humbled to be standing here as your member of parliament. I’m going to do my utmost to be the best Member of Parliament that, I was going to say Steveston-Richmond East has ever had, but it’s only had me.” (The election boundaries were recently redrawn to form this new riding.) “You’ll set the bar,” called out one supporter. “And I’ll set it high,” he responded. “Let’s savour the moment,” he concluded to the sound of Champagne corks popping. “Because tomorrow, the real work begins.” When asked what put him over the top, he credited his “phenomenal” team of volunteers and reaching out to all members of the “our diverse community.” Indeed, the crowd of supporters was remarkably ethnically diverse, with a large number from the Indo Canadian community. Two women wearing the niqab also got their pictures taken with Peschisolido. See Grit page 4
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