In an almost empty Liberal campaign office, it was hard for Stephen Glass to watch Doug Ford's Conservatives roll to a majority government.
The first time politician couldn't hide his disappointment as he prepared to leave his office for the trip to the Davedi Club to congratulate Vic Fedeli.
"Of course, tremendous disappointment at the results. This is far from what we hoped for. We were realistic about the probabilities, but it still hits hard to lose and have a majority Doug Ford Conservative government," he told BayToday.
But Glass said he wouldn't have changed his campaign if he had a re-do.
"In the context of what we had to work with, I have actually really enjoyed the campaign and I feel good about the positions we took and the things I staked out as concerns, which was, I was deeply, deeply concerned about a Doug Ford majority government, but clearly the voters in Nipissing and Ontario don't share my concern."
The vote total for Glass was down considerably from 2014 when Dr. Catherine Whiting ran for the party, but Glass says there were a number of factors.
"I attribute it to the Liberal brand after 14 years of great government, there was a deep desire for change. I think we lost a lot of votes to the NDP based on people making the calculus that Andrea Horwath's surge provincially, and frankly the very good campaign run by Henri Giroux, being his fourth time running, he deserves great credit for running a great campaign."
Glass also says being a relative unknown to voters played a role.
"I came into the race very late and I think all of those were contributing factors."
Don't expect the rookie politician to disappear.
"I will always be involved in the democratic process but I'm not a person seeking to be in elected office, but I love the political process and I definitely will be involved in trying to make sure we get a better result next time."
