The Green Party showed a significant rise in numbers among voters across Sudbury and the Nickel Belt as the polls came to a close Tuesday evening.
With over a thousand more votes in the Nickel Belt riding and over two thousand more votes in the Sudbury riding than in the 2006 election, the Green Party is making its presence known.
“We have a presence here, we have a foundation to build on. We represent, I think historically, what will be the next phase in politics and that is long term thinking for sustainable economy and sustainable environmental protection,” said Sudbury's Green Party candidate Gordon Harris.
With over a five per cent increase in the party's share of the voters, Harris said it's pretty exciting to see how far the party has come since 2006.
For the first time the Green Party in Sudbury had a store front campaign office, and had 300 signs all over the city as well as a billboard.
Harris said that he was very pleased with how the campaign was run, and was happy to participate in all the debates. He said they ran a clean campaign that was issue driven.
Prior to the results, Harris wasn't sure what the numbers would be, but said that the Green Party had an impact on Sudbury politics.
“Well I'd love to drive my electric car to Ottawa and take up a new job in November,” Harris said jokingly about what he thought the outcome would be. He noted that the other candidates got to know each other during the election and will continue to work together after the fact.
Fred Twilley, the Green Party candidate in the Nickel Belt riding, also said that the campaign went quite well. He said that when he sat down to talk to people they really appreciated it. Many wanted to hear what he had to say.
“I find that the message from the Green Party has really struck a chord,” said Twilley. Prior to the results, Twilley had some hopes of what the outcome would be.
“I'm hoping for over 10 per cent. I believe that will sort of mean enough to people. Then they're going to take a more serious look at us,” he said.
Having Green Party leader Elizabeth May sit in on the national debates has really helped the party, said the Nickel Belt candidate.
“It has put us spot and centre on the stage,” he said, adding that May did very well in the debates which made people more aware of the party and their policies.
