Adam Chambers spent Monday touring the riding for the final time as Simoce North’s Conservative candidate.
Now, he’ll get to know the riding even better as he heads to Ottawa after being elected as Simcoe North’s MP, replacing retiring, long-time member Bruce Stanton.
While results weren't final, as of 12:15 a.m., Chambers had amassed more than 20,000 votes - or 42.3% of ballots cast - with 260 of 282 polls counted. Liberal Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux was in second place with 14,119 votes, while the NDP's Janet-Lynne Durnford had garnered 7,830 votes, followed by PPC candidate Stephen Makk (3,854), Green Party candidate Krystal Brooks (1,524) and Christian Heritage Party's Russ Emo (160).
As a rookie candidate, Chambers said he benefited greatly from the support of Stanton and his wife Heather.
“I inherited a strong organization from Bruce, including a large transfer of volunteers from Bruce,” Chambers said. “And having Bruce and Heather active in the campaign helped.”
And while Chambers has been involved with election campaigns in the past, he acknowledged it’s quite a different experience when everyone’s working hard to get you elected.
“I’m thankful to all the volunteers,” he said, noting that even during election day there was a team of between 60 and 70 helpers knocking on doors and reminding people to vote.
While Chambers is new to politics in Simcoe North, he has some notable experience in the corridors of power of the federal Conservatives.
He served as executive assistant to the late Jim Flaherty, who was Canada’s finance minister during the financial crisis in the late 2000s
Chambers, 36, is married and has two young children; the family lives in Midland.
He is the assistant vice-president of Canada Life and a member of the Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care board of directors. He went to the University of Western Ontario and was a practising lawyer for a time.
And COVID definitely created a different style of campaign, according to Chambers.
While one debate featured all the candidates in the same room with no live audience, the other offerings were virtual.
“It was certainly different for my first time as a candidate,” he said, noting the pandemic didn’t allow as much one-on-one interactions and, thereby, created a different style of campaigning.
“It’s harder to have that connection. It’s hard to convey enthusiasm or emotion...nothing beats the real thing.”
But despite those kinds of challenges, Chambers is very happy with the campaign he and his team ran.
“We connected with well over 10,000 voters and knocked on 7,700 doors. We’ve been lucky. The reception’s been good and the weather cooperated.”
