THUNDER BAY — Patty Hajdu will once again represent Thunder Bay’s north-side area riding in the next Parliament.
Hajdu, running for the Liberals, was declared the winner of the Thunder Bay-Superior North race on Monday, defeating her closest challenger Conservative Bob Herman. Other hopefuls included Joy Wakefield for the NDP, John Northey for the Greens and Amos Bradley for the People’s Party.
"It feels good," she told Newswatch shortly after the results came in. "It feels good to know that I still have the confidence of the riding."
Hajdu told Newswatch, as well as her supporters in her victory speech, that her priorities are dictated by her constituents. “My priorities have always been the same,” Hajdu said. “I think that our communities do better when people have some security.”
“They have a confidence that they can find a roof over their head, that they are able to raise their children in a way that is not only safe but has vision for what their future might be,” she continued. “That they're able to imagine a world where we have a strong Canada, not just for this generation but for the next one.”
Herman said he's proud of the campaign he and his team ran, calling it "a very good showing." Herman also said he's pleased that, while local candidates could differ on policy, things didn't get ugly.
"One thing I want to say is that in this campaign, I'm very glad that we can go through a campaign process where our philosophies are put forward, what we believe in is put forward, and we don't have the vitriol that you see south of the border," he said.
For Wakefield, the campaign was a valuable learning experience.
"I have a lot more respect for for what this involves now having done it myself," she said, adding that she spoke with and congratulated Hajdu and Herman. "It's a lot of work and you know what, there there's no work that we put into our democracy that's a waste, right?"
"So it's it's all about building, moving forward, making progress and I'm really proud of the campaign that we ran."
Hajdu will also return as a member of the governing party as the Liberals will form the next government. She said her party's messaging resonated with voters.
“I think Canadians saw the choice that was in front of them,” she said of her party taking another election. “On one hand they had an optimistic vision of a Canada that pulls together when times are tough, a Canada that knows how to get through things and how to build things.”
“On the other hand, they had a party that was, really, for the last three years essentially telegraphing our country was broken and I think, at the door, what I heard over and over is that people want optimism and they want realism,” she continued. “They want a leader and they want a party that's going to be there for them, not just when the times are tough, but in a way that we can all envision a better Canada for everyone."
"It turns out that Canada is not broken," she said in her victory speech, to a loud ovation from supporters.
Hajdu has spent nearly a decade in Parliament, first being elected in 2015, unseating Bruce Hyer who was running that year for the Green Party after leaving the NDP (the party he was first elected under in 2008) and briefly sitting as an independent. She has since held off both Conservative and NDP second-place challengers in 2019 and 2021 respectively.
Hajdu has also spent the entirety of her time as an MP in cabinet, being named Minister of the Status of Women in 2015, the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour in 2017, Minister of Health in 2019 (just in time for the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic), and most recently was named Minister of Indigenous Services in 2021.
She retained that cabinet role when Mark Carney succeeded Justin Trudeau as Liberal leader in March.
Prior to entering politics, Hajdu was the head of Shelter House in Thunder Bay, as well as working in public health and drug awareness with the Thunder Bay District Health Unit.
Hajdu said she's grateful for all of the support she's received.
"This room is full of people who have helped, whether they've donated, whether they've knocked on doors, or whether they've been out there in the rain tonight running back and forth," she said. "That's the reality of politics, it really is a team sport, it's like hockey."
"You can't win alone and I'm just so blessed to have all these incredible people with me tonight."
-With files from Alicia Anderson and Nicky Shaw.
