THUNDER BAY –Patty Hajdu, who served as health minister throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, is headed back to the House of Commons as part of a second straight minority Liberal government.
It’s her third straight win in Thunder Bay-Superior North.
Hajdu easily defeated NDP rival Chantelle Bryson, leading her by 2,400 votes early Tuesday morning, though her 40 per cent vote share is slightly less than the 42.85 per cent she picked up just two years ago.
Bryson, a lawyer and activist, earned just shy of 28 per cent of the vote, while Conservative Joshua Taylor finished third at 24.3 per cent.
Hajdu said she’s grateful for the support of voters in her riding, trusting her to represent them in Ottawa and potentially at the cabinet table again.
“It’s just a real sense of joy. We’ve had a really good campaign. We felt good out there and we had great conversations with people at the door, on the phone and this is just affirmation that the region wants me to continue to represent them,” said Hajdu, who previously held both the status of women and labour portfolios under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Hajdu acknowledge the Liberal government will have to work with the other parties, coming up about 13 seats shy of a second majority. The Conservatives finished second, leading or elected in 121 seats, while the Bloc Quebecois took third, with 31 seats and the NDP were fourth, with 27. The under-performing Green Party took fifth, with two seats, while the surprising People’s Party of Canada was fifth, despite out-polling the Greens 5.2 per cent to 2.2 per cent.
“I think it’s always worth it to have an election and the question whether or not the direction we’re going in the country is the right direction that Canadians feel is the right one they want to go,” Hajdu said.
“I will just say this. The situation in the House of Commons, prior to the dissolution of the last Parliament, it wasn’t very functional.”
Hajdu said it remains to be seen if she’ll return to cabinet, noting it will be up to Trudeau to make that decision in the days and weeks to come.
Bryson, who declined a concession interview, earlier in the night said she was happy with her initial results.
“We just climbed up to 29% and the liberals are dropping, so we’re encouraged by that and it’s certainly an improvement from the last run, so we’re going to wait and see but absolutely, to all our supporters, it’s been amazing out on the campaign trail, thank you so much, it’s been a lovely experience.”
Taylor congratulated Hajdu and promised this won’t be his only run at a political seat for the Conservative Party of Canada.
“We’ll be back, stronger than ever. We’ll regroup and do even better next time,” Taylor said.
The PPC's Rick Daines took six per cent of the vote to finish fourth, while the Green Party's Amanda Moddejonge dropped to fifth, with just 1.8 per cent of the tally. Libertarian Alexander Vodden was a distant sixth.
Thunder Bay-Superior North results (154 of 217 polls):
- Patty Hajdu (Liberal): 11,458/40 per cent
- Chantelle Bryson (NDP): 7,905/27.6 per cent
- Joshua Taylor (Conservative): 6,952/24.3 per cent
- Rick Daines (PPC): 1,728/6 per cent
- Amanda Moddejonge (Green Party): 516/1.8 per cent
- Alexander Vodden (Libertarian): 80/0.3 per cent
