Prince George, BC – Pat Bell gives thumbs up before entering the Coast Inn of the North ballroom this evening, where Liberal party supporters are beginning to celebrate…

The incumbent for Prince George-Mackenzie was first elected in 2001, but chose not to run in this election due to health concerns.  Bell says he’s not at all surprised with how this evening is shaping up.  "Not at all, certainly in Prince George, we were very confident that we were going to hold these two seats.  The NDP certainly were making noises all the way along, but we just weren’t seeing it in our polling, we weren’t seeing it in our voter id, we weren’t seeing it on the doorsteps."

"Earlier on in the day, we were looking at the numbers rolling in and thinking this could be better than 2009 for us, we could win by larger margins," he says.

"I think the public needed to make a decision between a political party that has the capability of running the province, making sure that we’re efficient, that we can limit the debt that we have to deal with, create jobs – or one that has no proven track record."

He adds, "And tonight they chose, certainly in Prince George, loud and clear."

Bell says there’s no question that over 12 years the Liberal Government made some mistakes, but he feels the public has said tonight that they are prepared to take the bad with the good.