The Liberal tide swept through Niagara

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The Liberal tide swept through the Niagara peninsula last night. Two incumbents went down to defeat and it was a loss to the Liberals that seemingly no one saw coming.

When Rick Dykstra walked in the room where he hoped he’d be holding a victory party last night, he looked a bit shell-shocked. Dykstra’s campaign team expected the race to be close but they never thought he’d be defeated by Liberal newcomer Chris Bittle.

Speaking to his supporters last night, Dykstra talked about the millions in federal money he brought to the city.

“It took us until 2006 to again rebuild the downtown of the city of St. Catharines and we did it, we rebuilt the downtown. We added Brock University and Niagara College.”

Further south, in the riding of Niagara Centre the smile on Liberal candidate Vance Badawey’s face was even wider than it normally is. The Liberals in Niagara Centre had been running third in the polls for the entire 78 day campaign but came out on top. “Our leader Justin was very energized. Really came across very clear with the message.”

NDP incumbent Malcolm Allen was counting on being re-elected for a third term. He believes he was a victim of strategic voting. “We’ve had folks call today saying I voted Liberal this time to keep Harper out. If you voted for me, you would have kept Harper out.”

Foreign Affairs Minister Rob Nicholson held onto his seat in Niagara Falls, as did Conservative incumbent Dean Allison in Niagara West. But even their support had eroded.