Jenica Atwin wins re-election after switch from Greens to Liberals in Fredericton
It took a couple of extra days to complete the counting, but Jenica Atwin has been re-elected in the riding of Fredericton -- this time for the Liberals -- by a slim margin of just over 500 votes.
"We are here now to celebrate," Atwin said Wednesday afternoon as she addressed supporters in the same ballroom where they had gathered on election night Monday. "Fredericton, we did it again."
In 2019, Atwin won the riding for the Greens by beating Conservative Andrea Johnson by about 1,600 votes. In June, she crossed the floor to join the Liberals after a public spat with Green Party Leader Annamie Paul.
Atwin had called the Green leader's statement on violence in the Palestinian Territories "completely inadequate" and called on Israel to ".EndApartheid" in a Twitter post on May 11.
That post has since been deleted, though Atwin told CTV's Question Period on June 13, "I certainly stand by what I'm saying." The next day, she adjusted her stance on Israel to align with the governing Liberal party she had just joined.
On Monday, the lead switched back and forth between Atwin and Johnson numerous times, and at the end of the night the result was too close to call with more than 2,500 mail-in and absentee ballots yet to be tallied.
"We've been holding our breath for two days," Atwin said Wednesday after the final result was announced.
She thanked supporters and became emotional as she thanked family members for their support during her switch to the Liberals and the subsequent election campaign.
Atwin appealed to everyone in the riding, especially those who did not vote for her. "Come speak to me, come work with my office for anything you need," she said. "I know we have more common ground than what divides us."
And Atwin said the same thing about Parliament, which she described as dysfunctional before the election. "It's time to put aside our differences. We've got big things that we need to deliver for Canadians right now," she said.
With Atwin's win, the Liberals captured six of New Brunswick's seats while the Conservatives took the other four.
In a post on her Facebook campaign page, Johnson thanked people who voted for her and said she was "truly humbled." She said the results show a riding "almost entirely torn in half" and like Atwin issued an appeal for unity.
"Both the left and the right have to listen more and talk less. Be more tolerant and less judgmental. Look for similarities, not differences," Johnson wrote.
Atwin's win for the Greens in 2019 was one of only three for the party, and it was their only seat east of British Columbia. This time, the Green party was represented in the riding by University of New Brunswick law professor Nicole O'Byrne. She finished a distant third, just 102 votes ahead of the NDP's Shawn Oldenburg.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 22, 2021.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
OPP responds to apparent video of officer supporting anti-Trudeau government protestors
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Loud boom in Hamilton caused by propane tank, police say
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.