October 20, 2015
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Despite the Liberals forming a majority government in Monday's federal election, Conservative Ben Lobb, has been re-elected Huron-Bruce MP, defeating Liberal Allan Thompson by almost 3,000 votes.
With 241 polls reporting out of 246, and a total of 56,826 votes counted, Lobb had 25,412 votes, followed by Thompson with 22,677, New Democratic Party's Gerard Creces with 7,358, and Green Party's Jutta Splettstoesser with 1,379.
Lobb was in "wait-and-see" mode when he arrived at the Candlelight Restaurant in Goderich, Monday night, as the election results were pouring in from Atlantic Canada, indicating a sweep by the Liberal party.
He joked that he just came down to watch the Blue Jays game against the Kansas City Royals.
Lobb was leading by a slim margin after the advance poll votes were posted, and that gap widened considerably as the remaining polls were reported. He said he was not surprised by the close race against Thompson of the Liberals who had run a good campaign.
"We knew we were in for a real fight," he said. "I'm not nervous; we're exactly where we need to be - so far, so good."
Lobb said it is a different kind of election compared to previous ones, mainly due to the impact of social media. However, he noted that 10 years ago, during the 2005-06 campaign, one of his volunteers was constantly blogging about what was happening on the campaign trail.
"We'd go door-knocking and then he'd blog about it," said Lobb. "Times have certainly changed. But we've been watching the numbers and in the past three weeks (Liberal leader Justin) Trudeau's numbers started to rise in Atlantic Canada."
Once declared the winner, Lobb told supporters that he was happy with the results in Huron-Bruce, but disappointed about the results nationally. "People wanted change and that's what they got with this election."
He said it was a tough campaign but tipped his hat to his fellow candidates.
When asked what it would be like to return to Ottawa as a member of the opposition, Lobb said it will now be the PC party's job to ensure that the Liberals follow through on their promises of tax cuts and benefits for families. "We balanced the budget, so now we'll see what happens with the Liberals' plan of deficit-spending."
As he thanked the crowd of supporters, his campaign team and the people of Huron-Bruce for voting him back into office, Lobb made special note of former MP Robert McKinley who served this area for four terms and was first elected 50 years ago.
"I took the Bob McKinley way," said Lobb, "and it has certainly paid off."
Lobb, 39, was first elected Huron-Bruce MP in 2008 and re-elected in 2011.
Oct. 16, 2013, he became chairman of the House of Commons standing committee on health, and a member of the veterans affairs standing committee. He is the former chairman of the Government Auto Caucus, and a member of the Rural, Mining, Housing and Nuclear Caucus.
He has also been a member of the standing committee on Human Resources, Skills, Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities, Public Safety and National Security and Agriculture and Agri-Food.
Re-elected Huron-Bruce MP Ben Lobb thanks his supporters, campaign team and the people of Huron-Bruce Monday night
Written ByLiz Dadson is the founder and editor of the Kincardine Record and has been in the news business since 1986.
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