Posted by Orillia Packet & Times on 6/29/2004, 2:41 pm, in reply to "Steckle wins fourth term" Chris Simon Within moments of taking a 3,000 vote lead, Paul DeVillers shifted focus from his victorious campaign to governing the country. Simcoe Norths Liberal incumbent won his fourth consecutive term as MP last night as he watched with excitement from his campaign office in Orillia. But Conservative candidate Peter Stock made it a close race with more than 19,719 votes to DeVillerss 22,953 after the unofficial count late last night. As DeVillerss wife Nancy answered the phone and took down numbers, passing them back to her husbands supporters, roars were heard from the crowd. About 15 DeVillers supporters were in the office at the beginning of the night, but that number soon swelled. It quickly became apparent from poll numbers in Atlantic Canada that the Liberals were heading toward a minority government. DeVillers speculated the Liberals will negotiate with the NDP to form a coalition government. It looks like well have enough to combine with the NDP to try to put some form of coalition together, which means we wont be back into an election next spring. Well see, those negotiations have to be held by the prime minister and the leaders of the various parties. The NDP seems to be the logical ones, he said. We cant very well deal with the separatists. Dressed in a black blazer and green, purple and white dress shirt, DeVillers paced a little as he waited for the votes to come in. There were some tough moments in the campaign, but DeVillers said he stayed confident. Its very exciting. Theres always that suspense in any campaign, so its good to see were successful. Its a humbling experience to know that the people are behind you to that extent, he said. The reaction I was getting at the doors was good. I could tell a lot of the traditional support was there. I was confident. And the tense moments continued after the first poll came into the office. DeVillers was ahead of his closest competitor, the Conservatives Stock, by only four votes, 76 to 72. DeVillerss face went red. But each poll after that widened his lead. His forehead a little moist, DeVillers smiled and began to shake hands. Although the campaign was not run the way he would have liked, DeVillers was pleased with the outcome. Its not the highest calling to say we won because the (voters) didnt like the other guy, but basically when youre in this kind of campaign, you want to win, he said. Well worry about the reasons why later. And as he realized victory was his, DeVillers kissed Nancy. She said her husband deserved to win the riding. He puts on more miles in one week in the riding than he does going back and forth to Ottawa, she said. Certainly Paul is at everything he is invited to when hes not travelling outside of the country on business. Every anniversary, every birthday party, gathering and so on. He loves that. But it wasnt just family celebrating with DeVillers. He bused his volunteers immediately after his win to a victory celebration featuring food and a band. Ottawa University student Brian Fisher has been travelling back from Ottawa every weekend to help DeVillers with his campaign. He was phone canvassing up to the last minutes of polling, shoring up votes for DeVillers. Finding out (DeVillers) hard work over the years is paying off, thats the best part, he said. (Its) thrilling. ID- 71824
DeVillers takes Stock
Local MP and federal party win fourth straight election
Local News - Tuesday, June 29, 2004 @ 08:00
http://www.orilliapacket.com/webapp/sitepages/content.asp?contentid=71824&catname=Local+News
