Liberal Party incumbent Will Amos has been re-elected as member of parliament after amassing nearly half of the votes (29,759 – 48.85 per cent) in the Pontiac riding.

Conservative candidate Dave Blackburn finished second (10,298 – 16.91 per cent), Jonathan Carreiro-Benoit of the Bloc Québecois came third (9,851 – 16.17 per cent), followed by the New Democratic Party’s (NDP) Denise Giroux in fourth (6,364 – 10.45 per cent), the Green Party’s Claude Bertrand finished in fifth (3,631 – 5.96 per cent), the People’s Party of Canada (PPC) represented by Mario Belec ended up in sixth (764 – 1.25 per cent), Shawn Stewart of the Veterans Coalition Party finished seventh (197 – 0.32 per cent) and Marxist-Leninist candidate Louis Lang took the eighth and final spot (51 – 0.08 per cent).

As polls came to a close Monday night, around 50 Liberal Party volunteers and supporters gathered at the Cage aux Sports in the Plateau sector of Gatineau to join Amos and his team at his election party.

After the results were made official, he said he felt humbled by the number of votes he received in the region, stating that all the months of grinding out their campaign finally paid off.

“We worked hard to listen,” he said. “We worked hard to stay positive all the time. At the end of the day, serving the public as an elected representative is a privilege. It’s something that I look forward to doing for another several years.”

As the evening went on, attendees paid close attention to the progress of the poll while snacking on food and talking politics.

Party representatives, volunteers and supporters wore red t-shirts to show their allegiance to the party and a couple of tables were topped with Liberal Party merchandise and signs that people could write their names on.

At around 9:30 p.m., the majority of the supporters started flooding the building, anticipating that their riding’s representative would arrive at any minute – making the space much more crowded.

With a comfortable advantage in the polls across the country at the time, the attendees seemed confident that results would work out in their favour – projected to win just over 40 per cent of the seats.

At around 10 p.m., the man of the hour finally walked into the building, joined by his wife and two kids, as the crowd burst into cheers, giving him a standing ovation before chanting his name loudly in unison – ‘Will, Will, Will, Will.’

Every time a Liberal candidate won his or her riding, the crowd cheered – showing an amplified sense of excitement and relief when Justin Trudeau won the Papineau riding in Montreal.

When the television showed that the Liberal Party was projected to win the election as a minority at around 10:30 p.m., attendees were ecstatic, hugging each other, exchanging high fives and some even calling their loved ones to share the moment with them. Things were far more subdued at the Conservative viewing party, held at MEX BBQ in Cantley. The room was sparsly filled, and attendees started to drift for the door before the final tally was announced.

After the victory, Amos gave a speech in front of the attendees where he thanked everyone for their support.

“It’s impossible to name you all, impossible,” he said.

Among other things, he spoke about the importance of improving the region’s economy, protecting its environment and improving social services, such as the health care system.

“I jumped into politics in 2015, as an environmental lawyer, because we have to do something about climate change and we have to do more to protect our environment.”

He said he will continue to fight for the integrity of the region, promoting unity between the urban and rural areas and defending its people.

He explained that while the Liberal Party emerged with a minority of seats, he was still thrilled with the result.

Although things won’t be the exact same in the House of Commons, the new landscape will be positive for Canadians because the Liberals are ready to listen and work with other party representatives to do what’s best for the country, Amos said.

“It looks like the path we’re following, although it looks the same, it may well be slightly different,” he said. “We’re going to have to listen to some new voices and listen carefully to those voices.”

“It’s a good thing that in Canadian politics we can listen to each other, that we can accept different points of view. That’s what politics is about in Canada. That’s what politics is about in the Pontiac and that’s what politics done by all of you guys is all about.”

Pontiac riding Liberal incumbent Will Amos poses for a family photo with his 11 year old daughter, Paloma, his wife Regina and his eight year old son Enrique after sweeping the election.

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