It took 15,000 doors to knock off Ignatieff

[attach]4324[/attach]Polls indicated Ignatieff and the Liberals weren’t faring well heading into the federal election. However, few expected that Ignatieff might lose his own seat.

Victorious Conservative candidate Bernard Trottier knew from the outset that he was in for a challenge trying to oust the opposition leader from his Etobicoke–Lakeshore seat.

“Obviously there’s a lot more name recognition and so that means I just have to work that much harder,” said Trottier in the weeks leading up to the election.

The former business consultant said he and his team knocked on more than 15,000 doors in the riding en route to victory. He finished with 21,997 votes to Ignatieff’s 19,128.

Trottier said he was not as surprised at the result as others.

“We had a sense that we were doing very well based on the feedback at the doorstep,” he said. “We weren’t entirely surprised.”

The Liberals had held the riding since 1993. Ignatieff won two elections, one in 2006 and another in 2008, just before he first became party leader.

Prior to the election, Trottier told the Town Crier constituents were complaining to him that Ignatieff was invisible in the riding. Although born in St. Paul, Alberta, Trottier moved to the neighbourhood a couple of years ago.

“Being very present, that does make a difference,” Trottier said. “For a lot of people that’s an important consideration when they decide where to put the X.”

Trottier also attributed the win to a positive response to his party’s platform and a wave of Conservative support that swept the country.

“It’s impossible to tell what was a result of the national wave versus the results of our local efforts but I’m sure it was some sort of combination of those two things,” he said.

Trottier also received the support of another Etobicoke politician, Toronto mayor Rob Ford. As election night neared, residents in Etobicoke-Lakeshore received automated phone messages from Ford declaring his support for the Conservative candidate.

Weeks after the victory, Trottier said he will work for his constituents by working to bring new businesses into the community. He said several manufacturing, film and television, and information technology companies are interested in moving into the area.

“We want to make sure that this is a riding where people can create some wealth and create jobs and create opportunity, especially for young people, but really for everyone,” he said.