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Delta NDP candidate impressed with leader, results

Calling it an exciting campaign, New Democrat Randy Anderson-Fennell was pleased with the results of Monday’s federal election. Anderson-Fennell finished third in the polls garnering 8,654 votes (16.2 per cent).
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New Democrat Randy Anderson-Fennell watches the election night returns with his party supporters at the Sundance Pub in East Ladner.

Calling it an exciting campaign, New Democrat Randy Anderson-Fennell was pleased with the results of Monday’s federal election.

Anderson-Fennell finished third in the polls garnering 8,654 votes (16.2 per cent).

When the Optimist spoke to him early in the night at his election party at the Sundance Pub in East Ladner, he said the early results were as expected.

“We knew going into this that it was going to be an exciting campaign and that people were going to hear our message. We are excited about the message we have got out there and how people have responded to it,” he said. “The up rise that we have seen across the country is really exciting.”

He said he was proud of the campaign the NDP ran in Delta.

“When we started it was a very quiet campaign, but it really built momentum,” he said. “People were really happy with our platform when we went door-to-door. The one message I heard over and over again was how impressed people were with our leader, especially when they got a chance to meet him.

“I was impressed myself with the level of candidates we had here in Delta. I’m not surprised because we have always had good candidates. The level of respect amongst all of us was incredible. It was really nice to see how we as a campaign went out there and all talked about our platforms and what we wanted to do and not worry about any type of negative type of campaigning.”

Anderson-Fennell said he was not surprised to see party leader Jagmeet Singh’s popularity rise throughout the election.

“I’ve seen Jagmeet many, many times, including during the last provincial election. I was working for one of the election offices and I remember being in the audience listening, and I was impressed by what he was saying, but then I looked around the room and there was a lot of youth there and they were just in awe, so that really told me something,” he said.

Green candidate Craig DeCraene finished fourth with 3,310 votes (6.2 per cent).

“I’m very pleased with my vote total. I would have liked to have won like any other candidate, but I set out to having more votes than when I ran in the civic election in which I had just a little over a 1,000 votes, so to come in at well over 3,000 I was really happy,” he said. “I think the campaign went well. I could have done some more door knocking, but I think I did the best I could with the time and resources that I had.”

Angelina Ireland from the People’s Party was fifth with 937 votes (1.8 per cent).

“Congratulations, Carla. It has been my honour to stand alongside the other candidates and participate in the democratic process,” she said in a statement to the Optimist. “The people have spoken and I deeply respect that. We as a community will continue to work hard together, love each other and be proud of our country.”

In a brief follow-up interview, Ireland said she was obviously disappointed with the results.

“You hope that you have made some kind of impact and I hope that I have done that,” she said. “I have to get back to work and focus on that. I will still be involved in my community and in the future if there is an opportunity where someone feels I could be of service, I will always keep that open.”

Independent candidates Amarit Bains and Tony Bennett rounded out the polls with 397 and 383 votes, respectively.