Colleen Beaumier M.P. - Manley Supporter '02, will she come again?

Photo by Ken Hay Liberal MP Colleen Beaumier learned of her re-election in the riding of Brampton West while surrounded by supporters and well-wishers Monday night.

Liberal Beaumier re-elected in Brampton West

PAM DOUGLAS

Long-time Liberal incumbent Colleen Beaumier ran away with the Brampton West riding, capturing 49 per cent of the vote compared to Conservative challenger Bal Gosal's 35.7 per cent.

Beaumier said she never doubted the outcome, and the veteran MP said she is looking forward to taking on a different role as part of the opposition in Stephen Harper's Conservative minority government.

Beaumier, 61, said the solid base of support she has built in the riding is what brought her a fifth straight victory at the polls.

"I know that the polls sometimes indicated there was a change, but we never really doubted that we were going to win it," she said after being declared the winner.

"We knew our base was there," Beaumier said.

The race was not as tight as the one she faced last election against Conservative Tony Clement. Beaumier finished with about 8,000 votes more than Gosal. Approximately 4,000 votes separated her and Clement last time.

Nationally, her party did not fare as well, she acknowledged. Beaumier said it's time for a re-birth of her Liberal Party and she plans to play a role in that re-birth after winning in her riding of Brampton West for a fifth term.

"Canadians are Liberals at heart," she said during a victory party at the Royal Banquet Hall on Statesman Drive. "But they'd like to see some new ideas, some new vision, and I'm really looking forward to it. I think the change has to come from within the party."

No change in Brampton

As the national results came in Monday night, she predicted a "bloodbath" within the party in the aftermath of a Harper victory. Two hours later, Paul Martin announced he would step down as Liberal leader.

Unofficial results showed Beaumier with 49.1 per cent of the vote with 28,002 compared to Gosal's 35.7 per cent, or 20,358 votes. NDP candidate Jagtar Shergill earned 6,274 (11 per cent), and Green Party candidate Jaipaul Massey-Singh garnered 2,400 votes (4.2 per cent). Voter turnout was 59.8 per cent of the 95,412 eligible voters, according to preliminary results.

Beaumier said her campaign didn't really start until January 5.

"We felt people didn't want to be disturbed at Christmas," she said.

She said the Conservative call for change didn't work in Brampton.

"Why change? We have the best economy in years, unemployment is the lowest it's been, interest rates are low."

She said she is ready to play a different role in the House of Commons as a member of the opposition.

She has never held a cabinet post, but says she works hard in her constituency.

"It isn't always the positions that you hold in Ottawa that make you a good MP," Beaumier noted.

To criticism that she said little in the House of Commons during the past 18 months, Beaumier said the reason is not a mystery in light of the fact she supported John Manley, not Martin, during the Liberal leadership debate.

"I was marginalized, or perhaps I allowed myself to be marginalized, but I was loyal to him (Martin)."

She said there was a lot of "crap" going on in the House last term, and "I was embarrassed to sit in the House sometimes."

She said she isn't happy that Stephen Harper is going to be Prime Minister, but with a minority government, "we can hold him to the centre."

"He isn't a Progressive Conservative, he's a Reformer, and it frightens me, for our social programs and everything we have in this country," she said.

When asked what her own future holds, she said, "I don't know. That will depend on how successful I am in directing what I think the (Liberal) party should be."

The election night mood was somber at La Suhaag Banquet Hall on Hedgedale Road where Gosal supporters gave the Conservative candidate a standing ovation as he walked in just before midnight.

Thanking his campaign workers and his family, Gosal, 45, said the local results were disappointing, but nationally the election was about a new beginning for Canada.

"I guess people in Brampton weren't ready for change," Gosal said after his conciliation speech. "At the door it was completely different."

He said his team ran an excellent campaign and he couldn't think of anything that he would do differently.

"It has been a long, long campaign," he told his supporters. "It officially began on November 29, however it really began in the spring of 2005 when I was honoured to be selected as the Conservative candidate for Brampton West. Since that night I have attended many meetings, local events and knocked on literally thousands of doors. Whatever the result, these last few months have taught me a great deal about my city and so many of the wonderful people who share this community."

He said he ran because he wanted a brighter future for his family and his community. He will go back to being an insurance broker, and continue his volunteer work in the community, he said.

Massey-Singh said he was happy with a 50 per cent increase in votes for his Green Party in the riding compared to last election, and he learned a lot about himself and his neighbours during the campaign.

"I realized there are a lot of people in our community who want change and are already working for change, but they feel the political process is not working for them," he said. "There are a lot of Greens in Brampton."

He spent the final days of the campaign talking to young voters, trying to inspire them to get involved in the political process, whether that is through voting or considering a political career.

During her time in Ottawa, Beaumier has been chair, vice-chair or member of subcommittees on human rights, veterans' affairs, public accounts and citizenship and immigration. After human rights violations were uncovered during the Somali inquiry, she introduced a private members' bill that increased transparency in the bureaucracy.

She is passionate about immigration, and has been working hard on the issue for years, she says, helping to make changes that will improve the system and money to upgrade and qualify foreign credentials in Canada.

She said she would like to be in a shadow cabinet, and her interests lie with seniors, immigration, the environment, health, and ensuring Canada has an independent foreign policy.