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Valerie Bradford held out comment until definitive results were available even though she was leading by more than 600 votes close to 1 a.m. Tuesday morning.
By Monday morning, with just one of the 196 polls in the riding to report, Bradford held a 668-vote lead over conservative Tyler Calver – 17,621 votes to 16,953.
A distant third was NDP candidate Suresh Arangath with 7,720 votes, followed by Melissa Baumgaertner of the PPC with 3,288. Green candidate Gabe rose had 1,652, Independent candidate C.A. Morrison had 115 votes and Rhinoceros Party candidate Stephen Davis had 91. Marxist Leninist Elaine Baetz had 56.
With one poll to be counted, the voter turnout was sitting at 58.7 per cent for the riding.
The Liberal Party of Canada candidate reached Moxie's Grill and Bar in Kitchener's south end well after midnight to meet and greet volunteers. But she still wouldn't declare her win, according to her campaign manager, Michelle Johnston.
Polls closed at 9:30 p.m. on Monday but results for the riding did not start coming in until an hour later. Bradford, who could be making her way to parliament for the first time, started out by leading with 200 or so votes. The lead later increased to more than 600 votes, however, Johnston said, Bradford was still waiting for more certain results before she would feel comfortable giving a statement to the media.
As party leaders located across the country began making their speeches, the CBC called the election in favour of a minority Liberal government. Party leader Justin Trudeau was the last one to make his speech.
