Rick Bartolucci said he is making a phone call to the premier, Friday morning, wasting little time capitalizing on his fifth term as MPP for Greater Sudbury.
“I'll be calling the premier tomorrow to remind him how Sudbury values a (Dalton) McGuinty government, and I know he will show his value to the people of Sudbury for electing a member that helped make a majority government,” Bartolucci said moments after his victory was made official at his party headquarters, the Caruso Club.
It was a race to the finish as NDP candidate Paul Loewenberg mounted a furious charge and had local Liberal supporters walking on eggs shells for most of the night.
After a drawn out battle against NDP newcomer Paul Loewenberg, incumbent Liberal Rick Bartolucci held onto his Sudbury riding seat.
Bartolucci edged out Loewenberg by 501 votes and earned 42.3 per cent of the vote. Progressive Conservative candidate Gerry Labelle was third with 4,409 votes, while Green Party candidate Pat Rogerson was fourth, with 925 votes.
Bartolucci arrived at the Caruso Club just before 10 p.m. It was a fairly subdued mood since, at the time, Bartolucci was well behind Loewenberg, and some of the Liberal's supporters were even ready to admit defeat.
By 10:30 p.m. though, the mood changed as someone from the crowd yelled out that Bartolucci had pulled ahead by 100 votes.
Liberal supporters, who were previously sitting on the edge of their seats with long faces, leaped high into the air with fists clenched tightly and roared their approval of the change.
From that point on, the votes continued to go Bartolucci's way, ending with his victory.
“It was obviously a nail-biter. It was a squeaker,” Bartolucci said. “I am so excited about the democratic process and how it unfolded tonight. People cast their ballots for whom they thought would do the best job – I'm very fortunate they chose me. Now, we work with everybody as a community to build opportunity within our community.”
Bartolucci was surrounded by a thick throng of family members all night. There were even relatives from Ireland in attendance to lend their support. The roller-coaster race had everyone feeling flushed.
“It's been a drain on us all,” brother Chris Bartolucci said. “We were on pins and needles all night. Someone told me how dead the crowd was earlier on, but everyone was just trying to figure out what the heck was going on. Thank God we had the Irishmen here.”
Bartolucci was already rolling up his proverbial sleeves about what issues he will tackle immediately.
“There's absolutely no question we're going to try and ensure we bring as much industry to Sudbury as possible,” he said. “Job creation is our priority. We're going to ensure to continue our work in health care … and quality education. Although we've come a long way, there's always more to do. My focus, our focus, the community focus will be on jobs, health care and education. Of course, my No. 1 project is going to be ... (four-laning)Hwy. 69. I look forward to starting tomorrow.”
Greater Sudbury mayor Marianne Matichuk made her presence felt at the party and gave her two thumbs up over Bartolucci's win, and she expects big payoffs for the people of the city over the next four years.
“It's great for Sudbury,” she said. “Rick has done a lot for this community. I'm glad he'll be continuing that. We have a very good relationship. Rick has worked hard. We're in a growth pattern right now and we want to continue that. He's a former municipal councillor, so he gets it and he understands, but he's also someone who has a heart for this community and I think that is very important.”
Family Coalition Party of Ontario candidate Carita Murphy Marketos was fifth with 163 votes and independent David Popescu was last with 44 votes.
Northern Life was unable to connect with Nickel Belt Liberal candidate Tony Ryma on election night. Stay tuned for a complete story with him.
