Bond ‘Humbled’ By Decisive 4th Term
Shirley Bond and her husband, Bill, celebrate with supporters at the Coast Inn of the North
Prince George, BC – The Prince George-Valemount and Prince George-Mackenzie held true to their reputation as ‘swing ridings’, with the Liberals sweeping to a 4th term as handily as the local candidates.
Far from being the underdog many political pundits had pegged her, Attorney-General and Justice Minister, Shirley Bond, beat her nearest competitor, NDP candidate Sherry Ogasawara, by almost 4,000 votes. Bond captured 10,163 votes to Ogasawara’s 6,194, 58-percent of the total vote in Prince George-Valemount.
"I was on just about everybody’s ‘Ridings to Watch’ list," said Bond, speaking to reporters at the Coast Inn of the North last night. "You know, bringing down a cabinet minister is a pretty big deal and so there was a lot of attention paid to our riding."
"I’m very humbled – a fourth term in office is something fairly rare in the BC Legislature. I have an amazing team and family and I am profoundly grateful to them and to my constituents tonight."
Bond said, as has been the case elsewhere in the country, the pollsters got it wrong, while the voters got it right. She credited Premier Christy Clark’s performance in the debate with being a turning point in the campaign, saying Clark was exceptional and people saw the difference in leadership. "From that moment on, I had people on the doorstep saying this woman is quite something and she has the potential to bring people together and so, in essence, I think Christy led us over the last number of weeks."
Bond admitted there was a message to be taken from the polls, and the government hadn’t been perfect over the past four years. "We need to pay attention, we need to be inclusive, and, as I said tonight in my remarks, I’m an MLA for my entire constituency – whether you voted for me or not – and I want to prove that over the next four years, even more than I have over the last 12 (years)."
Bond said she is looking forward to working with Liberal newcomer, Mike Morris, in Prince George-Mackenzie and offered congratulations to her competitors for a hard-fought campaign. In particular, Bond said Sherry Ogasawara did a great job, saying she "certainly put me through my paces."
Comments
It will be most interesting to see how Mayor Green will be received in Victoria now! I bet anyone standing close to her or having a conversation with our Mayor will keep the conversation platonic for the fear of the conversation ending up in a letter. If I was an MP I certainly would be keeping my cards close to my chest if the Mayor was in the room.
Not only that 57chevy, her “old friend” will not be bellying up to the pay window anytime soon as he put his $50,000.00 down on the wrong pony. The odds on favorite stumbled and fell at the 3/4 poll and will have to be put down:)
Three cheers for Shirley, Mike, Christy and the rest of the winning team.
Bond was put over the top mostly from the signs she finally posted out at the Danson Industrial site, and hopefully she remembers that… :)
lonesome sparrow This word is not in the vocabulary of our council. ‘Humbled’
Where have all the Dippers gone?
Long time passing..
Where have all the Dippers gone?
Since Tuesday night…
Where have all the Dippers gone?
Gone into hiding everyone…
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?
To the tune of “Where have all the flowers gone”
Of course I had fun with this one
I wonder what mattyc is up to today?
I wonder what mattyc’s mood is like this morning?
I think the RCMP had better get the big hook out and start dragging the Fraser, matty is not the only one that vanished around 8:20 last evening.
Haha..was thinking the same thing about mattyc.
He moved out of PG to avoid all the things he hates there, guess now he’ll have to move out of BC too.
Seeing as how a prescription pill bottle was acceptable I.D. at some polling stations, I guess I don’t need any other kind of I.D. to carry around. Why pay $75 dollars for a drivers license when you have an empty pill bottle of Oxy-Contin? Valid at banks, the U.S. border and a plethora of other venues? Go figure.
Do you hear that???
The constant whine from the socialists in Quebec is eclipsed by the whine from the socialists in BC this morning.
Isn’t it a nice sound….
gimmeabreak, give it a rest.
Just as there are sore losers, there are also sore winners.
Be gracious in our victory.
Be merciful to the unfortunate.
Be an adult.
I wonder is mattyc put any money on his prediction of 85 seats for the NDP?
The cancer of socialism is in remission for at least 4 years. Unfortunately, it isn’t yet eradicated.
Loki
My apologies…it is only from the merciless verbal attacks from the Dippers over the last 4 yrs on this site,that I simply forgot for a few moments how to be gracious in our victory and merciful to their loss. I will now take your advice and rejoice (gloat) in private. This is my last post on this issue I promise….
BCRacer,
nothing would be better than a renamed, revamped HST based on the previously promised 10%. Thats about the only thing that would put a bigger smile on my face than the Liberal victory.
Higher taxes are a given in any year.
It is a shell game to make you think they are not reaching into your pockets as deeply as you feel.
Again, there are sore winners, and sore losers, be neither.
Now is the time to put aside party colors and band together for the sake of BC. Our choice has been made, move on.
give us back the HST at 10%. we all will be better off.
Shirley Bond, the hardest working politician in the area, the least recognized for her efforts. Good Job Shirley.
For a cold overcast morning, never have I seen it so brght outside.
Quite true weaksauce. Every one here that votes for the socialists should have a look at how well Greece and Ireland have done under 40 years of NDP.
Loki,
i agree with you and gimmeabreak.
However, it is hard to exercise grace when most of the NDPer’s on this board don’t subscribe to any rules of etiquette.
Many NDPers are still continuing with their distorted views, erroneous comments and insulting and discriminatory comments.
Do we allow this bullying to continue?
Or do we stay silent and chock this up to denial therapy?
Get ready to say good bye to Hydro and BCLD
Hey realitycheck, moving out of BC was exactly what some of the commenter’s over at the PG Citizen site were talking about if the NDP won! One guy was asking how much his 2 bedroom apartment would sell for!
I guess your comment works for both sides… hey? It’s amazing how politically polarized this city and province is… if it not left it has to be right, there is no middle, no place to meet… too bad :(
GOOD! I could never understand why the province was involved in telecommunications for so long, and I can’t figure out now why they’re involved in liquor distribution…
Now if we could just get rid of that damn car insurance thing…
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