Thunder Bay Conservatives have reasons to smile about second place

With a majority in the bag, Conservative Richard Harvey says he sees the bright side of his second-place showing in the Thunder Bay-Superior North race.

The last time the Tories took the runner-up position in the Superior North was in 1958 when it was known as Port Arthur – Thunder Bay.  In that race, the Progressive Conservatives beat the Liberals with 32.45 per cent of the popular vote.

On Monday, Harvey fell behind NDP incumbent Bruce Hyer, but beat Liberal challenger Yves Fricot to take second place. While there’s no difference between a second and third place showing – neither can gain a seat – Harvey said he believes it’s still a historical day.

"It’s really exciting and we’re absolutely thrilled," Harvey said. "I’m so thankful to everyone. We have done so well locally. We had a sea of blue out there. We’re coming up strong and we’re going to continue to move forward and become a real force to be dealt with."

To move up another spot and successfully capture a seat in the House of Commons, Harvey said he will need to work hard to make voters more comfortable with the party and what it means to be truly conservative.

The party has waited a long time, but Harvey was glad to see the Conservatives achieve its goal of obtaining majority status, which will help stabilize the country and the economy.

“This is a good thing for Canada," he said. "Canadians have spoken and they want a stable, majority government."

Harvey added that he will definitely make another run at the Superio North seat in the next federal election.

Harvey wasn’t the only Tory in Thunder Bay to force a Liberal candidate into a third place finish. Thunder Bay – Rainy River candidate Moe Comuzzi-Stehmann’s strong showing forced current at-large city councillor and Liberal candidate Ken Boshcoff into that third place spot.

Comuzzi-Stehmann said she credited the Conservative’s good fortune in the riding to the hard work of her campaign team.

"I know we have a great team on our end and I was honoured to have been part of a group of people that have worked so hard," Comuzzi-Stehmann said. "I’m the quarterback. I throw the ball and they have been catching it and running with me and we were obviously nipping at the heels and we can in second.

“You know, hey it would be great to come in first but we`ll be back. This is just the beginning."

Comuzzi-Stehmann said she felt excited that Canada would have a majority Conservative government led by Stephen Harper.

But the Conservative candidate apologizes that she couldn’t add her riding to Harper’s majority.

"He’s an amazing man and a wonderful prime minister.”