By Michael Gorman
THE VANGUARD
NovaNewsNow.com
Zach Churchill is Yarmouth’s new MLA.
Churchill, the Liberal candidate who said he wanted to come home so others could too, won Tuesday’s byelection in decisive fashion with 3,986 votes, more than 1,000 ahead of his nearest competitor.
Former Yarmouth mayor Charles Crosby, representing the Progressive Conservatives, was second with 2,628 votes. Independent candidate Belle Hatfield pulled off something of an upset by finishing third with 673 votes while John Deveau, representing the governing NDP, finished with a disappointing 513 votes. John Percy of the Green Party had 49 votes and Jonathan Dean of the Atlantica Party had 19.
Voter turnout was 58 per cent — up from the last general provincial election. There were 49 rejected ballots.
Churchill’s supporters gathered at the Yarmouth Golf and Country Club Tuesday night to follow the results. As the polls started to come in things looked good right away for their man. Churchill and Crosby traded several polls early on but as more and more results came in Churchill started to pull ahead.
The writing was on the wall when the 26-year-old Liberal started winning polls that have for years been Tory strongholds. Former Tory MLA Richard Hurlburt, who stepped down in February amidst the MLA spending scandal, won every poll during the last two general elections.
Tuesday night saw a major swing from Tory blue to Liberal red.
Churchill, who took a leave of absence from his job in Ottawa as a policy analyst, started the campaign with a huge amount of momentum. Coming off a nomination meeting that saw more than 1,000 people turn out to the Mariners Centre to select Churchill over two other candidates, the election appeared to be Churchill’s to lose.
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- - Belle Hatfield finishes in third place
- - John Deveau finishes in fourth place
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And while his opponents did their best to slow that momentum by painting him as either too young or lacking in knowledge of the area given his extended time away, none of that seemed to have an impact on election night.
“I guess he’s a resident now,” one supporter could be heard saying after Churchill was declared the winner.
“The feedback at the door was very positive,” Churchill said when asked about his impressions during the campaign.
Although the number of polls that went Liberal was resounding — Churchill won all but five of the 41 polls, with Crosby taking four and the two splitting one — many remained close. Churchill said he doesn’t care how people voted now that the election is over. What he’s concerned with now is getting down to business and trying to address the area’s challenges.
“We’re all in this together,” he said. “My commitment to the people here is to bring all the voices of this community together, to listen to all the voices and to partner with the whole community in helping us move forward.”
Following an enthusiastic reception from supporters who chanted his name, Churchill told the crowd comprised of family, friends and Liberals new and old — some traditionally associated with other parties — that it would be an uphill climb as the community works to overcome its many challenges.
“We don’t have an easy road ahead of us in Yarmouth. We all know what the challenges are,” he said. “A government and an MLA can’t come in with a magic wand and fix everything. But what we need are people who can partner with our community and help move us forward instead of setting us back.”
Churchill thanked his extensive support staff, including his parents — “the two people I knew I’d have no chance of beating in an election in Yarmouth.”
The win is the first for the Liberals in Yarmouth since Richie Hubbard in 1993. Hubbard, who told the Vanguard it felt like 1993 all over again, was front and centre at the golf course to congratulate Churchill with a firm handshake and what appeared to be a few words of wisdom.
Churchill inherits a riding facing more uncertainty than it has for decades. With no ferry service, high unemployment and few signs of economic development, Churchill said he’d start hosting community meetings right away so he is prepared to deal with Premier Darrell Dexter’s NDP government in efforts to improve the community’s lot.
Churchill campaigned on a message of hope, change and a new era of politics. As the sun set outside over the Yarmouth links, inside it was rising over a new MLA. It will now be up to Churchill to deliver on that message.
