Ontario Liberal Party candidate Gurwinder Dusanjh intends on continuing his political involvement in some capacity after Thursday’s provincial election, despite garnering a sliver of the votes compared to the Progressive Conservatives and New Democrats in the Sault Ste. Marie riding.
The 3,038 votes garnered by Dusanjh wasn’t enough to keep pace in what turned out be a down-to-the-wire race between NDP candidate Lisa Vezeau-Allen, with 12,964 votes cast, and PC candidate Chris Scott, whose 13,082 votes cemented his position as newly-elected MPP for the Sault by a margin of just 118 votes.
The first-time electoral candidate is a member of Hatherly Masonic Lodge, and was attending a private meeting at the Masonic Hall on Albert St. E. as polls closed throughout the province.
“It felt like it was important, because it’s how I got my political aspirations,” Dusanjh told SooToday late on Thursday.
Dusanjh officially became a member of Hatherly on Feb. 14, 2018 after he was approached by members of the lodge.
“I engaged them in conversation, and I definitely liked the focus on good character and morality, and camaraderie as well,” he added.
“I believe that those things are really guiding principles.”
The Ontario Liberal Party (OLP) candidate only became aware of the election results for the Sault riding after the meeting concluded.
“I just checked it right now, and I’m definitely happy with the outcome in terms of the actual voter turnout — and I was able to at least represent the party and myself in a manner that turned more votes in than the OLP did in the previous election,” Dusanjh said.
He says he only got his name on the ballot during the first week of February in the lead-up to the snap election.
“If I was to plan ahead I would’ve gotten my candidacy in earlier, but then I had my job and my prior commitments as well that was holding me back,” he said.
“With the conditions that it was — with the snap election, with the prior commitments I had, and then with the whole situation with not being able to reach candidates for the meetings — I think it went great.
“I think it really cements that there is support for the OLP here.”
Dusanjh plans on compiling all of the concerns he heard during his political campaign and submitting them to the new MPP for the Sault riding.
But in the meantime, he says there’s work to be done in terms of building up the local riding association for the Liberals in the Sault, which had a stronghold in the riding with David Orazietti serving as Liberal MPP from 2003 to 2016.
“I’m going to be running under this banner, I’m going to be building it up — and then hopefully the party will rise, not just in Sault Ste. Marie, but in Ontario,” he said.
“I think the OLP has great opportunities ahead of them.”
The Liberal candidate says this is “just the beginning” for the provincial Liberals in the Sault, but he is not committing to running as an electoral candidate in future elections.
“We’ll have to see when the next election comes up, but I definitely want to ensure that the people of Sault Ste. Marie, their voices are heard,” Dusanjh said.