Liberal Tim Louis re-elected in Kitchener-Conestoga

Liberal Tim Louis has been declared the winner in Kitchener-Conestoga in Monday's federal election.

The results are among some of the last to be reported in the country after a very close race between Louis and Conservative Carlene Hawley. Louis won with 528 votes more than Hawley, preliminary numbers show. The final vote tally still needs to be confirmed by Elections Canada.

Louis said in an interview he was not surprised the race was so close.

"I knew it would be close, I didn't know it would be that close," he said. "I was just down in the trenches working away."

Louis was standing on a rural road, picking up election signs, when the call came in Thursday afternoon from his campaign manager to tell him he had won.

"I looked out at the field and there was cows and corns and it just kind of washed over me, the numbers," he said. "It's been a long day but I'm glad they took their time and got the count right. It's the right thing to do."

He said knowing there was a large number of voters who wanted a Conservative representative, he will work to show he's there for the entire riding both the rural and urban constituents. In his last term, that meant he sat on the agricultural committee to be an advocate for local farmers and their needs.

"Waterloo region is such a wonderful place where each of these communities and townships have their own identity," he said.

"It puts the onus on me to make sure that I've got rural voices heard from and also the urban voices heard from and it puts me kind of in both worlds, which is quite challenging while you're in Ottawa, but also make sure I'm speaking up for those small communities, too, not just the cities."

Hawley disappointed by results

In a statement emailed to media on Thursday, Hawley said the results were an "incredibly disappointing outcome."

"I think we ran a strong, positive campaign, discussing real issues with [thousands of]people, and I can't bring myself to regret that time and investment," Hawley said, noting she called Louis to congratulate him.

"It has been a tough campaign and it is a hard loss, but I hope to move forward and to continue to invest in this community anyway that I can," she added.

"I would encourage all constituents to be more involved in the democratic process, whether by volunteering during the next election or just having meaningful discussions with friends and neighbours. Let's not let the fact that the election is over make us apathetic to the important changes we need to see in Ottawa."

This is the third election where the riding has seen a very tight race between the Liberals and the Conservatives.

In 2015, Conservative incumbent Harold Albrecht beat Louis by 251 votes.

In 2019, they flipped and Louis beat Albrechtby 365 votes. In that race, the results weren't known until the afternoon following election day, although the delaywas chalked up to human error.

Louis said in 2015 and 2019, he had a concession speech in one pocket and an acceptancespeech in the other.

"This time, the pockets were empty. I just said whatever happens, happens. We don't know if it's going to be called tonight," he said.

"We got together on election night to thank and celebrate the volunteers so I have still, on my third election, never given a concession speech or an acceptance speech yet."