Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

Dennis Bevington, NDP MP for the Western Arctic, celebrates with his wife Joan at the Elks Club after he is declared the winner in the federal election. - Cara Loverock/NNSL photo

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The NDP's Dennis Bevington will be heading back to Ottawa for a second term as MP for the Western Arctic.

Despite a resurgent Conservative Party represented by Brendan Bell, Bevington won the Western Arctic seat on Tuesday night, taking 5,669 votes with all 91 polls counted at press time.

Bell, his closest challenger, captured 5,146 votes ­ about 37.5 per cent of the total ballots cast and four per cent back of Bevington. Bell had hoped to become the first Conservative candidate to win the Western Arctic seat since 1984.

Conservative candidate Brendan Bell, left, congratulates NDP Dennis Bevington who was returned to Ottawa for the second time last night.

The Conservatives, however, will have to wait and try again another day as Bevington managed to convince enough voters he can still be an effective player in the House of Commons even though his party never had a serious chance of claiming power nationally.

The Conservatives will continue nationally as a minority government, winning 143 seats in the general election. The Liberals dropped from 95 to 77 seats while the NDP climbed to 37 from 30 after the writ was dropped Sept. 7.

Over at the Elk's Club, cheers erupted from NDP supporters as Bevington was declared the winner.

"I'm so pleased we've had the result here we've had tonight," said Bevington in a speech to the crowd. "It was very close. I want to congratulate my worthy opponents who put up a heck of a fight."

Bevington called the win a "victory for the North."

Gabrielle Mackenzie-Scott concluded her campaign at the Liberal's downtown party headquarters with an offer of thanks to her supporters. After finishing a relative close second during the last election, the Liberals were a distant third in this race ­ taking just 1,858 votes and 13.6 per cent of the ballots cast.

He said his second time in office will be "even better this time."

"The North is Canada. The North is what Canada is all about," said Bevington.

Mark Heyck ­ in his third outing as Bevington's campaign manager ­ said it was a nervous night all around.

"We were kind of on the edge of our seats throughout the campaign and tonight," said Heyck. "We took nothing for granted."

He said residents of the NWT showed their confidence in Bevington, adding the MP has been a strong voice for the North. Bevington listed devolution, the regulatory process and environmental protection as top priorities in Ottawa.

"This is my fourth run and to me the most satisfactory victory," said Bevington in response to the poll results.

Bell made a brief appearance at the Top Knight around 10:45 p.m. to thank his supporters and all those who volunteered for his campaign.

"It's certainly a disappointment," he said, referring to his loss. "I'm most disappointed because there are so many people in this room and around the territory who gave it their all and put their lives on hold Š and they did such a job for me.

"I'm mostly disappointed that we didn't quite get it done for them," he added. One Bell supporter, Jim Merritt, whose wife Ute also attended, was sad to see him lose but even more disheartened to see so few in the territory vote.

"The most important things is for people to get involved with voting Š and to get to know the platforms," he said.

David McPherson, president of the conservative Electoral District Association, was glad to see the Conservatives do well nationally but disappointed by Bell's loss.

"If we don't elect Brendan, we've missed a huge opportunity," he said at the start of the night.

While Bell didn't win the seat, he said he's not out of politics yet.

"The future we'll think about, and talk about it as a family what the options are for us and where we'll go from here. "I'll stay involved in politics on some level, one or another, I'm just not sure exactly where we go from here, but we'll sit down and figure it out," he said.

Gabrielle Mackenzie-Scott concluded her campaign at the Liberal's downtown party headquarters with an offer of thanks to her supporters, who witnessed last night what may have been the worst drubbing the party has ever received in the Western Arctic.

After finishing a relative close second during the last election, the Liberals were a distant third in this race ­ taking just 1,858 votes and 13.6 per cent of the ballots cast.

Before Bevington's win in 2006, the Liberals held the seat for 18 years under Ethel Blondin-Andrew.

Mac k e n z i e - Scott was a relatively late addition to the campaign. The election race was already underway when the Yellowknife resident and former chair of the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board accepted the Liberal nomination.

"I think we can say we've won in our hearts," Mackenzie- Scott said her to supporters. "In terms of the Liberal party, we have to rebuild and it will take a lot of work."

Of the two remaining candidates, the Green Party's Sam Gamble claimed 752 votes, the best result yet for his party. Noeline Villebrun with the First Peoples National Party of Canada finished last with 252 votes.

Voter turnout was weak in the Western Arctic. Only 48.6 per cent out 28,162 eligible voters cast ballots compared to 58.3 per cent nationally. Fiftyeight per cent of Western Arctic voters turned out in 2006.