THUNDER BAY - It was a tight race between three candidates in the Thunder Bay-Rainy River riding, but Liberal incumbent Marcus Powlowski will retain his seat.
With 197 of 198 polls reporting, Powlowski has 13,033 votes. Conservative Party of Canada candidate Adelina Peechia is in second with 11,266, while NDP’s Yuk-Sem Won, who was leading for much of the evening and then dropped to second, ended up in third place with 10,885 votes.
People’s Party of Canada candidate Alan Audut has 2,533 votes while Green Party candidate has 553 votes.
Throughout the night, the lead was held by all three major party candidates, but as more polls began to report votes, Powlowski widened his lead to more than 1,200 votes.
“I think the final numbers weren’t that different, a little closer than last time, but in the end I think we pulled off a fairly decent win,” Powlowski said after he took a more than 1,200 vote lead late into the night and was declared the winner of the riding.
Powlowski added that it was a stressful night seeing the lead change so many times but having worked as a doctor for many years, he said he has been in similar stressful situations and has learned to try and relax and stay calm.
And while he will be returning to Ottawa to represent the people of Thunder Bay-Rainy River, Powlowski said the Liberal Party, which is projected to form another minority government, will need to have some discussions on what it needs to change.
“I think there has to be a lot of discussions as to where we go from here,” he said. “Twice in a row we came up with the same results. You would think we have to do something different to get a majority government. It’s a little frustrating. I think I have done a pretty good job for my constituents.”
Pecchia, a first-time candidate and came in with the second-most votes, said the campaign has been a big learning curve but a positive experience.
Though she criticized the timing of the election, saying it was opportunistic.
“People sometimes are very reluctant for change, and Trudeau is a strategist,” she said. “I think he took a horrible opportunity in the middle of a pandemic and children going back to school.”
Pecchia also criticized the People’s Party of Canada, which may have cost the Conservatives some votes across the country including in the Thunder Bay-Rainy River riding.
“They’ve run a campaign, I think, out of anger, rather than thinking things through,” she said.
NDP’s Yuk-Sem Won, who also placed third in the final results during the 2019 federal election, said she received a lot of support again this time, making it a close race.
“The support I had across the region and in Thunder Bay this time, right from the beginning on day one, to get all the signs out and order more, speaks volumes to the amount of people who believed in me and the NDP,” she said.
“I think people at the doors were undecided and I think the results have really shown so far that this was an unnecessary election.”
Powlowski said he is pleased to continue representing the people in the riding and is hoping to continue work on projects including the care home on Fort William First Nation and helping the Alstom plant in the city.
But given the results during this election changed very little from the one held in 2019, Powlowski said it may not have been necessary.
“I can say with absolutely certainty, all other parties would have been happy to force an election if they were up in the polls,” he said. “It’s the reality of politics. As it turned out it wasn’t a great decision.”
According to Elections Canada, voter turnout in the Thunder Bay-Rainy River riding was 38,290 or approximately 58 per cent.
With files from Ian Kaufman.
