With only three polls left to be counted in the Sudbury riding and leading by more than 2,000 votes in the 2021 federal election, MP-elect Vivian Lapointe said she is ready to get to work.
Lapointe won the popular vote in the Sudbury riding with 15,121 votes, beating NDP candidate Nadia Verrelli, who garnered 13,073votes with 217 of 220 polls reported.
Conservative candidate Ian Symington followed in third place with 12,294 votes.
“Tonight, it is clear, Sudbury has given us a mandate, and it is one we intend to deliver on,” Lapointe told the modest gathering of friends and family. “There are many things we need to do, and every day I will focus on the things that will move us forward, on the things that benefit the people of Sudbury, on the things that will unite us as a community. I am at your service and ready to serve you.”
Lapointe said her first priority will be to build relations with city officials, with provincial colleagues and with people in Ottawa, “and that will set the foundation for success in Sudbury.”
“I am truly humbled and deeply conscious of the responsibility now placed on me, and I can assure you that I am ready to serve you,” she said. “I said from the start that I am optimistic about Sudbury and our ability to build back better, for our young families, for our seniors, for our economy. As your member of parliament, I will explore, exploit, expedite and expand every opportunity for Sudbury.”
Lapointe had nothing but accolades for her campaign team.
“We had a good plan with theLiberal platform, which includes $10-a-day child care, which is something that will now be completed,” said Lapointe. “We also had a good plan for economic recovery, and we want to continue to keep people safe. We want to continue with the vaccine rollout and our mandate.”
Assistance for young families was one of the biggest issues Lapointe said she heard while on the campaign trail, as well as making it affordable for families to purchase homes and for cost of living.
Lapointe praised her federal candidate counterparts for running great campaigns.
“I knew from the start that this was going to be a very close race,” she said. “I congratulate Nadia and Ian on their campaigns, they were outstanding candidates and I think we saw that today.
Lapointe said before she arrived at her election gathering, she talked to her fellow candidate, Nadia Verrelli, and told her she was proud of the campaign she had run.
“She was critical of the Liberal’s policies, but never critical of the local candidate.”
Voter turnout in the Sudbury riding was almost 60 per cent, or 44,210 out of a possible 74,030 voters casting ballots.
