Hampton wins as his party loses big time

Ken Johnston
Editor

It was basically over before it began.
Election coverage could have been stopped about 20 minutes after it started Thursday evening as that was how long it took for the victory of a Liberal landslide to be announced.
While the incumbent Tories took a real beating, the big disappointment came for the New Democratic Party lead by this riding’s reelected Howard Hampton. He had been predicting over the past week that the NDP would take about 30 seats and form the official opposition to the Liberals.
However, when all was said a done the Liberals won 72 seats, Tories 24 seats and the NDP only 7 seats. That devastating finish left the party below official party status which means there will be less funding for them and less time allotted in the house during question period.
Hampton would not comment on Thursday about his future as leader of the party.
At home he handily defeated his competition. He received about 60% of the votes at 14,441. His nearest competitor was Geoff McLain of the Liberal Party with 6,274 votes. In third wad Tory Cathe Hosowski at 3,027 votes. A distant 4th was Dan King of the Green Party with 281 votes.
Polling results in the Rainy River to Devlin area were as follows:
Nestor Falls area:
NDP: 119
PC: 33
Lib: 20
Green: 2
Morson:
NDP: 51
PC: 28
Lib: 8
North Branch:
N: 19
P: 4
L: 15
G: 2
Bergland:
N: 60
P: 18
L: 25
G: 4
Rainy River:
N: 320
P: 80
L: 56
G: 6
Pinewood:
N: 43
P: 18
L: 15
Stratton:
N: 91
P: 53
L: 35
G: 1
Halverson Residence:
N: 69
P: 28
L: 21
Devlin:
N: 74
P: 5
L: 6
G: 2
Chapple:
N: 72
P: 16
L: 16
RR First Nation:
N: 45
P: 4
L: 5
G: 2
Emo:
N: 302
P: 175
L: 91
G: 8