WAVERLEY: “This victory tonight is not mine, it is the people’s of Sackville-Preston-Chezzetcook,” said a relieved and jubilant Darrell Samson to a room of about 50 supporters at the Waverley Legion.
Samson was re-elected to represent the riding, defeating NDP Matt Stickland by almost 8,000 votes in the Oct. 21 federal election. Samson had a total of 19,667 votes compared to Stickland’s 11,665. Conservative Kevin Copley was third; Green Party’s Anthony Edmonds was fourth and the People’s Party Sybil Hogg was last.
He will be one of 156 Liberal MPs predicted to form a minority government under Justin Trudeau. Results were still coming in as of 1 a.m.
In the leadup to the election, a variety of polls indicated the riding was a toss up between Stickland and Samson. But as each poll came in on Monday night, it became clear quite early that those polls didn’t have the actual vibe of the constituency as Samson easily took a large lead and never looked back.
When Samson was declared re-elected, the room at the Waverley Legion—which at that point may have had about 25 people, including seven media and two Legion employees—there was much relief and a short eruption of euphoria.
He spoke to the crowd about the victory and what it meant to represent the riding for the last four years.
“I had the honour and privilege of representing the people of this constituency,” said Samson, looking visibly relieved from the campaign journey that culminated with the win. “This constituency has been heard, but it must be heard.
“When monies get moved around in this country it usually gets moved to Quebec, Ontario, B.C. Our jobs as MPs in N.S. is to ensure the truck full of money, supports and services are for the people of Nova Scotia. But don’t get me wrong. My objective is your objective.”
He said his objective is to ensure a good portion of that money doesn’t just land in Halifax, but comes to the riding as well.
Samson talked about the long days of campaigning.
“I have to admit there were days that it was tough out there, but we worked hard,”: he said. “We took absolutely nothing for granted. We knew that we needed to have those important conversations at the door, about seniors; young families; young adults; about the middle class; about all Canadians; the challenges in health; the challenges in education.
“It is time for our government , for the federal government to act, and we shall do that.”
He said he is ready to be the voice of the riding for another four years, and bring the concerns of those living here to Ottawa.
“I can promise you that Sackville-Preston-Chezzetcook will be on the map for the next four years,” said Samson.
The NDP’s Stickland said the result is not what they wanted, nor what they expected given their door-to-door campaigning.
“We worked hard, but I can’t speculate as to why people didn’t vote NDP,” he said. “It’s not what we heard on the doorstep.”
The voter turnout with one poll left was 68.13 per cent (48,693 of 71,468 registered electors).
We will be updating this story with official numbers and more details.