Sarah Rennie – LJI reporter

After a fast-paced campaign and a long election night, voters in the Châteauguay – Les Jardins-de-Napierville riding have sent first-time Liberal candidate Nathalie Provost to Ottawa.

According to preliminary results issued by Elections Canada, Provost won the riding with 27,960 votes, or 45.1 per cent of the total vote. Bloc Québécois candidate Patrick O’Hara received 18,022 votes, representing 29.1 per cent of the total vote, while Conservative candidate David De Repentigny garnered the support of 13,471 voters, for 21.7 per cent of the total vote. Hannah Walker of the New Democratic Party received 1,337 votes (2.2 per cent), while Martine Desrochers of the Green Party of Canada had 765 votes (1.2 per cent), and Nicolas Guerin received 426 votes (0.7 per cent).

Of the 91,519 eligible voters in the Châteauguay – Les Jardins-de-Napierville riding, at least 61,981 individuals cast a ballot at one of 256 polls, for a voter turnout of 67.72 per cent.

Provost was gathered with her team and volunteers at her campaign headquarters in Chateauguay on Monday evening to watch as results trickled in after polls closed. Following a late night during which the Liberal Party of Canada was projected to win the election, Provost said on Tuesday morning that she is excited and honoured. “I’m now realizing more and more that I am an MP. I am very proud, but I can feel the weight of the responsibility,” she added.

Provost said the 37-day campaign felt like a five-kilometre run. “It was much too long to run it as a sprint, but you cannot pace yourself like in a marathon,” she explained, admitting that as a first-time candidate she was met with a stiff learning curve.

She says she felt the support of the Liberal Party during her campaign. She points out that several Liberal MPs and cabinet ministers visited the riding, including Mélanie Joly, Rachel Bendayan, François-Philippe Champagne, and Dominic LeBlanc. “They taught me how to go knocking door-to-door,” she said, with a laugh. “It was really fun to learn with them,” she continued, comparing her time with fellow Liberal candidates, and especially Champagne, to a master class in campaigning.

Provost was not the only notable first-time candidate on the Liberal slate, as Prime Minister Mark Carney was also learning to campaign on the fly. Carney and the Liberals secured a fourth term with around 43.5 per cent of the total vote across the country. At the time of publication, there were still several ridings that were considered too close to call, and Elections Canada had yet to confirm whether the Liberals had won a minority or majority government.

Uncertainty aside, Provost said she was privileged to represent the riding, and had particularly enjoyed watching the spring season arrive across the territory. “It is so beautiful, and people are proud of their land. They cherish it. It’s their wealth,” she explained, noting she shares this sense of pride, having come from an agricultural area as well.

Provost thanked her team for their hard work throughout the campaign. She was also very careful to mention former Liberal MP Brenda Shanahan, who served the Châteauguay-Lacolle riding over three terms. “I wouldn’t be here if she had not shaken hands with me and given me that beginning impulse. Even in the last days, people were telling me about the great job that she did in Chateauguay and the surrounding area,” she explained. “This was the strongest foundation for a campaign,” she added.

Now Provost is hoping to continue in Shanahan’s footsteps. She said a priority over the summer will be to ensure that she fully understands all she was hearing from voters during the campaign. “I want to go back to see people, to have discussions with people in order to understand their needs, their issues, and to make sure that my priorities are representative of their priorities.”

Provost said that along with representing the people of Châteauguay – Les Jardins-de-Napierville, she wants to improve the way the federal and provincial governments work together. Pointing out that she has worked as a Quebec civil servant within the provincial government, she said there are too many examples of inefficiencies between it and the federal level. “We are all working together for our citizens, so it must be more efficient than it is right now,” she concludes.