Lamont retains seat in St. Boniface

Dougald Lamont will enter his first full term as the MLA for St. Boniface after being re-elected in the provincial election on Sept. 10.

Lamont, who is also the leader of the Manitoba Liberals, swept aside challenges from NDP candidate Laurissa Sims, who finished in second, and the PC candidate Megan Hoskins, who finished in third. Green Party candidate Jaclyn Jeanson finished in fourth, and Manitoba Forward candidate Simone Fortier finished in fifth.

According to unofficial election results from Elections Manitoba, Lamont won 4,077 votes; Sims won 2,939; Hoskins won 1,889; Jeanson won 840; and Fortier won 76.

Talking to The Lance two days after winning the election, Lamont said he is happy about the result and is looking forward to continuing to represent his constituents at the Manitoba legislature.

"I’m very glad that I won the confidence of the people of St. Boniface again," said Lamont, who is married to Cecilia. The couple has four children. "It’s a very good result, and I’m very encouraged by that."

And after the learning curve of his first 14 months at the Legislature, Lamont is looking forward to continuing to serve the constituents of St. Boniface, as well as continuing to lead the provincial party, and he said the constituency is a microcosm for all of Manitoba in many ways.

"In terms of St. Boniface, I was elected here a year ago, and being re-elected with a comfortable margin shows the confidence that people have. In terms of some of the other results elsewhere there were some really close races with Liberals coming a close second. Now it’s about continuing to build for us, as I think we’ve done a good job establishing ourselves. It’s now more about the recognition factor," he said.

"Even before I ran in St. Boniface, people were telling me that the area was one of the most diverse in the city. There are million-dollar condos, blue collar families, English, French, Métis, new Canadians, an industrial park, a university, and one of the biggest hospitals in the province, as well as so many cultural aspects. There’s a lot of everything you can imagine. People in St. Boniface are also amazingly politically engaged."

Calling it an "unbelievable honour" to represent the people of St. Boniface, Lamont said he was pleased with the election campaign the provincial Liberals ran.

"I think we ran the best possible campaign we could. It was a good campaign with some really good ideas. We’ll now continue to fight for the people of St. Boniface and in other constituencies, as all Manitobans everywhere deserve this."

At the party’s election headquarters at the Norwood Hotel after the results were announced, Lamont said his victory was still sinking in. He noted he was thankful for the attendance of the many people that visited the HQ through the course of that night to show their support.