It’s looking like it will be a lonely flight to Ottawa for West Nova’s Chris d’Entremont, who was the only Conservative candidate elected on Monday night in Nova Scotia’s 11 ridings.
D’Entremont narrowly defeated Liberal candidate Jason Deveau, garnering 39.3 per cent of the riding’s support compared to Deveau’s 36.4.
READ MORE: Liberals retain 10 seats in Nova Scotia as Tories win West Nova
Green candidate Judy Green finished third with 12.7 per cent support, while NDP candidate Matthew Dubois rounded out the list in fourth with 10.7 per cent.
D’Entremont says despite being the only Tory from Nova Scotia heading to the House, he considers the night a success from a personal standpoint.
“I’m still very, very happy,” d’Entremont told Global News in a phone interview on Tuesday. “Volunteers in West Nova worked really hard to make sure we had a positive outcome.
“But I was kind of hoping I’d have a couple other Nova Scotians to travel on that airplane with me.”
West Nova, which was without an incumbent this year after Liberal MP Colin Fraser opted not to run for re-election, did not have a declared candidate until late into the evening.
D’Entremont says he was nervous as the results came streaming in, especially given how tight the race was.
“Seeing those numbers come in slowly and the gap — it always stayed within 400, 700, it would go back to 400 — it was great to finally see when it hit over 40 per cent,” he said.
D’Entremont, along with fellow Conservatives Eddie Orrell in Sydney-Victoria and Alfie MacLeod in Cape Breton-Canso, announced earlier this year they would be making the jump from provincial to federal politics.
READ MORE: Make it 3 — N.S. MLA Orrell joins d’Entremont and MacLeod as federal Tory candidates
D’Entremont, however, was the only successful candidate. Orrell fell at the hands of Liberal Jaime Battiste, while MacLeod lost to Liberal Mike Kelloway. Both ridings were tight, but neither Conservative was able to break through the red wave.
“It’s discouraging. I wanted them to come along with me because I think, together, we could do better for Nova Scotia,” d’Entremont said.
D’Entremont says that despite it being daunting, he looks forward to “being the Conservative brand” in Nova Scotia and welcomes the challenge.
“We’re going to have to demystify it over the next bit, understand what modern Conservativism actually is, but that means I’m going to be at a lot of fundraising dinners and events on behalf of the other ridings in Nova Scotia,” he said.
“It will add a fair bit of work to me, but hey, this is why we sign up for these things.”
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