By Jeremy Deutsch - Kamloops This Week
NDP candidate Michael Crawford walked into Cathy McLeod's Conservative campaign headquarters for the second straight election — in defeat.
Foes for two elections, Crawford quickly made his way to McLeod and offered a hug and a congratulations.
But, on an election night like no other, the two main rivals in the Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo Crawford remarked that McLeod's party finally has its majority, while the re-elected MP congratulated him for his party's success nationally as it surpassed 100 seats to become Official Opposition.
McLeod said she was proud to see the NDP strong in Quebec.
"I think they'll [NDP] be so much better for our country," she said.
"There's some good stories coming out of this election," Crawford responded.
Crawford ended his brief appearance with congratulations to the crowd of Conservative supporters.
McLeod received 29,682 votes (52.1 per cent), while Crawford amassed 20,983 votes (36.9 per cent), followed by Green candidate Donovan Cavers with 3,062 votes (5.4 per cent), Liberal candidate Murray Todd with 3,020 votes (5.3 per cent) and Christian Heritage candidate Chris Kempling with 188 votes (0.3 per cent).
Nationally, the Conservatives secured their first majority with 167 seats, followed by the NDP (102), Liberals (34), Bloc Quebecois (4) and Greens (1).