Gerry Marshall knew it would be an uphill battle.
But the Penetanguishene mayor is never one to back down from a challenge.
Marshall tried his best and, by his estimate, knocked on close to 15,000 doors throughout the riding of Simcoe North after kicking off his campaign in earnest earlier this year.
“I started knocking on doors in February and knocked on between 100 and 150 doors a day since then,” Marshall said, joking that he’ll need to buy a new pair of running shoes after wearing out the treads on his current pair. “I thought we ran a strong campaign and I’m really proud of our team. I felt we articulated well and got our message across. I have no regrets.”
Marshall said that while he’s disappointed with the local results, he’s not overly surprised when one considers them from a provincial context.
“Voters wanted to take a pound of flesh from the Liberals and Kathleen Wynne and we got caught up in that,” Marshall said as he reflected on the election during a campaign wrap party at the Midland Cultural Centre Thursday evening.
Marshall said the election season featured lots of “topsy-turvy” moments from the Patrick Brown to Doug Ford Tory leadership saga to outgoing premier Kathleen Wynne’s declaration that her party wouldn’t win the election.
“It’s been an interesting experience that’s been full of twists and turns,” Marshall said, reiterating his feeling that Wynne’s surprise pronouncement didn’t hurt individual Liberal candidates seeking to secure a local riding win.
But despite finishing short of Tory candidate Jill Dunlop in the final ballot box race, Marshall said he plans to continue to be a strong booster for the county while also ensuring all Simcoe residents’ concerns are heard.
“I’m not going away,” Marshall said, adding he also plans to continue pushing for a new French-language university for Penetanguishene. “I plan to continue being a voice for the area.”
Long-time Liberal supporter and campaign worker Ryan Barber said Marshall led an impressive campaign and proved to be an effective champion for all of the riding’s residents.
“Gerry’s one of our strongest candidates in years,” Barber said. “I think the campaign was run phenomenally. He really had boundless energy.”
Barber said there’s still hope Simcoe North constituents might opt to elect a Liberal representative in the future.
“We know there’s actually a very large progressive base in the riding,” said Barber, who’s been involved with the party for the past 21 years. “I love politics. Some people say it’s a sickness; I like to think it’s a passion.”
Local longtime Liberal backer Bill Avery said it’s too bad Wynne got so much bad press, considering what she did for the “little guy,” including increasing the minimum wage and offering free tuition to some.
“It could be that the Liberals were in for so long that people just wanted a change. It wasn’t really who they were voting for; it was who they were voting against. It would have been nice if it had been a minority government to keep them in check.”
