The Liberals may have won a new minority government, but we have yet to see if Sault Ste. Marie incumbent Terry Sheehan will return to Ottawa or if Sonny Spina will turn the riding blue after a nail-biter of a night for local candidates.
Sheehan arrived at the Grand Theatre at about 12:15 a.m. on Tuesday to greet about two dozen supporters, a much quieter affair than his victory parties in the 2015 and 2019 election wins. He was accompanied by his son Riley and wife Lisa.
Most ridings had been decided by the time Sheehan walked through the doors, but even after midnight the winner in Sault Ste. Marie had yet to be determined, with only about 200 votes separating Sheehan and Conservative candidate Sonny Spina.
“Every single vote matters, this certainly proves that,” said Sheehan to media waiting for him in the lobby of the theatre. “We knew it was going to be a tight race.”
Sheehan said he expects the approximately 1,900 mail-in ballots in the riding will need to be counted before a winner is crowned. He noted his own daughter Lisa is one of those who mailed in ballots as she is away at school at the University of Ottawa.
Around the same time, Spina was meeting supporters at The Rink in the Canal District. The former Sault Ste. Marie Police Services took questions from the media about the close race and high turnout that is topping 56 percent.
"We're seeing a large number of voters coming out and I'm excited about that because it tells me how engaged people are in our community so im very optimistic about our future here," said Spina about the close race.
Asked by media if he thought the death of man and shooting of a police officer on Sunday turned voters his way as a law and order candidate, Spina was visibly moved.
"I think the community's mourning. I think the community's concerned," said Spina. "This is something our community's going to feel for a long time."
Spina said if he is successful and becomes the next MP for Sault Ste. Marie, it will be because of the hard work of his team.
"Every time we left a neighborhood after knocking on doors, more people joined us. People recognize there's an opportunity here to advance and do things better for our community," said Spina.
Sheehan stopped short of telling media he would be packing his bags to return to Ottawa.
"I am going to rest tonight with my family that is here. We are just going to continue to soak it all in," said Sheehan.
The lead between Sonny Spina and Sheehan changed a number of times over the evening as Elections Canada results trickled in from the 184 polling stations across the city.
By about 11:00 p.m. the Conservative challenger began to pull away by about 300 votes. Twenty minutes later, with 114 polls reporting, Sheehan was up again 61 votes.
At 11:50 p.m. Sheehan widened his lead to 220 votes with 150 of 184 polls reporting.
By midnight he was still up by 199 votes with 160 polls reported. That lead was reduced to 151 by the time Sheehan concluded his speech to those gathered at the theatre shortly before 12:38 p.m.
With a number of mail-in ballots to be counted greater than the margin between the two candidates, the local winner is yet to be determined even hours after national media called the election in favour of the Liberals.
Sheehan said he was pleased to see the Liberals will form a minority government, no matter the local results.
The Grand Theatre was the venue of choice for the local Liberal party faithful. It hosted victory parties in each of the last two elections for Sheehan.
Monday’s event was the first to be held in the venue since the pandemic began in March 2020.
Sheehan was first elected as Liberal MP for Sault Ste. Marie in 2015. He was reelected in 2019 in a close contest with Spina, winning the seat by fewer than 3,000 votes.
Prior to his time in Ottawa, Sheehan served as city councillor for Ward 2 from 2003 to 2015 after he served two terms as a trustee for the Huron-Superior Catholic District School Board.
- with files from Darren Taylor
