By Joel Goldenberg
The Suburban

The federal Liberal strongholds in the west end of Montreal maintained that status Monday night, although for a large part of the evening, the Mount Royal race was quite tight.

Anthony Housefather was declared the winner at around 12:15 a.m. Tuesday, but the evening started off as a nailbiter between him and Conservative candidate Neil Oberman. The riding has been Liberal since 1940, but has previously come out strong for the Conservatives, particularly when Stephen Harper was Prime Minister. As of Tuesday morning, with 203 of 204 polls reporting, Housefather had 50.9 percent of the vote to 40.67 percent for Oberman, 4.65 percent for the NDP and 3.3 percent for the BQ. In 2021, Housefather won with 57 percent of the vote to 24.46 percent for the Conservatives.

“Thank you to the people of Mount Royal for once again putting their trust in me, serving my riding and country is the honour of a lifetime,” Housefather posted.

Oberman, reacting to the call during the evening of a Liberal minority government, told The Suburban, ”people have a vote, they have a voice, they have a choice and they want change.

“This is not a referendum on a single person,” he added. “This is a referendum on a party, on their policies and on their politics.”

At Housefather headquarters, his supporters reflected on the short but intense campaign in Mount Royal.

“I thought the campaign at times was not as respectful as I would have liked,” said Côte St. Luc councillor Steven Erdelyi. “Anthony Housefather has been an excellent MP, the best MP I’ve ever had the chance to work with.”

Also at his headquarters were CSL Mayor Mitchell Brownstein, Marvin Rotrand of United Against Hate and former D’Arcy McGee MNA Lawrence Bergman, the co-chair of Housefather’s campaign.

“We reached a lot of people throughout the campaign, and had a great group of volunteers,” Bergman told The Suburban.

The Liberals won more easily and quickly in the St. Laurent and Outremont ridings, where Emmanuella Lambropoulos and Rachel Bendayan respectively were declared the winners before midnight. As of Tuesday morning with 170 of 171 polls reporting, Bendayan won with 55 percent of the vote, to 12.6 percent for the Conservatives, 12.2 percent for the BQ, 10.6 percent for the NDP and 9.67 percent for the Green Party and its co-leader Jonathan Pedneault.

“Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your trust,” Bendayan posted along with a video showing her reaction to her victory.

In St. Laurent, with 164 of 166 polls reporting Lambropoulos was the winner with 59.1 percent, to the Conservatives with 28 percent, the BQ at 5.7 percent, the NDP at 4.5 percent and the Green Party at 1.6 percent. n