Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Hastings-Lennox and Addington returned to blue on Monday night, electing Conservative Party of Canada Shelby Kramp-Neuman to be the riding’s Member of Parliament in the 44th general election.
She’ll serve as part of the opposition government as Justin Trudeau’s Liberals were able to win a third straight term, second straight as a minority.
With polls still being calculated early Tuesday morning, as of 1 a.m. Kramp-Neuman had secured 19,233 votes in H-LA, good for 45 per cent of all votes cast in the rising. Liberal candidate Mike Bossio finished second with 14,707 votes tallied as of 1 a.m., good for 34.4 per cent of the vote.
Kramp-Neuman replaces Derek Sloan, who was elected as a Conservative in 2019 before ultimately being removed from the party in January and finishing the term as an independent.
“I’m at this point I’m so honoured and overwhelmed by the huge trust and confidence that the voters in Hastings-Lennox and Addington have placed in me tonight,” Kramp-Neuman said via phone from her home in Madoc early Tuesday morning. “It’s overwhelming. I’ll certainly start by thanking and congratulating the other candidates, they ran a tough but civil campaign. The mood here is pretty pumped. We were conservatively optimistic as polls were coming in but I’ve been around enough campaigns that we certainly didn’t take anything for granted and that early lead meant nothing.”
Kramp-Neuman spent a good portion of the campaign knocking on doors leading up to election night in what was projected to be a tight race.
“There wasn’t one dominant issue,” Kramp-Neuman said of conversations had with people across Hastings-Lennox and Addington. “In fact the issues have been really diverse, which reflects that of the riding. There was everything from job security to affordable housing, a lot of conversations about the rising price of everything, or the cost of living in general. There were some questions about vaccine passports and the vaccine in general. But I think the biggest concern that we heard continuously was how are we going to recover from COVID-19. How are we going to have economic recovery and how are we going to get beyond the debt loads that so many individuals in all levels of governments have put on themselves, it’s just completely exploded. Businesses and jobs and people owning their own home, it’s all at a risk right now.”
When asked about her priorities, she joked first was to get a good night’s sleep.
“Whether it’s establishing the critical cell phone (coverage), finishing the broadband internet infrastructure is huge throughout the riding,” she added. “That was often spoken about. After being on municipal council for 15 years I recognize the importance in stable and predictable infrastructure funding and having the coordination and collaboration with the feds and the provincial governments. There’s a huge task at hand and I’m certainly up for it.”
When Kramp-Neuman does take over at the federal level, she’ll have the opportunity to work with her father, Daryl Kramp, who currently serves as H-LA’s Member of Provincial Parliament. He has also previously served as the riding’s MP.
“My father has been a huge part of my life and he certainly given me my ‘why’, certainly more so in the last several months we’ve overcome some adversities in the family,” said Kramp-Neuman. “His strength and his wisdom and courage give me the strength to be my best. Yes he’s my father, but regardless of the relationship the professional relationship with the provincial Member of Parliament is important and you have to recognize that together we can really continue to make a difference. We’re elected to represent and deliver results for the people.”
Bossio, who watched the results come in at the Waterfront River Pub and Terrace in Napanee, conceded the race around 11 p.m. Bossio had been seeking re-election after representing the riding from 2015-19, besting Daryl Kramp, before losing to Sloan in 2019.
“I did call Shelby and I did wish her well and I congratulated her on a well run campaign and the efforts that she and her team put in and the volunteers that she was able to bring together to help her on her journey as well,” said Bossio. “That’s what it comes down to at the end of the day, you’ve got to have those volunteers, you can’t do it alone….I wish her well. I hope that she recognizes the incredible opportunity that she has and the honour that it is to represent the people of this riding and I think the riding will do well by her. I think that she’ll put her best foot forward and do the best she can to help the people of this riding. I wish her well on the journey she’s about to start.”
Bossio thanked his volunteers for their support.
“We did everything, there was nothing left to give,” said Bossio. “There was nothing left to do, they gave it their all. It was such a Herculean effort that went into this campaign.”
NDP candidate Matilda DeBues finished third in the riding with 11.4 per cent of the vote followed by James Babcock of the People’s Party with 5.9 per cent. Reg Wilson of the Green Party earned 1.8 per cent of the vote while Jennifer Sloan, wife of incumbent Derek, ran as an independent and captured 1.5 per cent of the vote.
As for Derek Sloan, after originally announcing he would seek re-election in H-LA, he dropped out of the race to run as an independent in the Alberta riding of Banff-Airdrie. Conservative incumbent Blake Richards carried the riding with 55.1 per cent of the vote while Sloan garnered 2.4 per cent of the vote.