Norma Blissett, who last night lost her campaign to become Kootenay East MLA, was gracious in defeat.
The high school teacher has also worked in the forestry industry. She serves as president of Citizens for a Livable Cranbrook.
She was surrounded by supporters chanting her name at Cranbrook pub Dee Dee Magee's as the election was called for Bennett Tuesday night.
“I thought we had a good chance, but obviously the voters have spoken and they wanted Mr. Bennett back,” she said.
Blissett said she has been campaigning door-to-door since February, “and we’ve had other people helping in the past month, and we’ve been phoning and canvassing, and we had some good communications, so I think we ran a good campaign. It’s just the will of the people; they really wanted to support Mr. Bennett and the B.C. Liberals.
Her campaign team was hard-working and dedicated, Blissett went on.
“I have had wonderful support. We have a great team of volunteers... they came through big time for me. Between all the scrutineers we had today, and people manning the office, and the sign crew did a fantastic job. So I am so pleased with all the volunteers,” she said.
Like many people in British Columbia, Blissett said she was surprised the B.C. Liberals won the province.
“The last polling I was looking at on the weekend showed us being nine points ahead,” Blissett said. “I knew this would be a tough riding, Kootenay East would be hard, but I thought we had a shot.
“And I felt confident that we would be forming government, so I am quite surprised.”