Sudbury Liberals choose Paul Lefebvre as their federal election candidate

Federal Liberals in the Sudbury riding have chosen Paul Lefebvre as their candidate.

The lawyer and businessman was chosen over former Greater Sudbury Mayor Marianne Matichuk.

Lefebvresaid he feels humbled and excited, but also focused on making sureSudbury has a "seat at Team Trudeau's table."

"There's a balance between happiness andyet being very realist and pragmatic that there's a lot of work ahead of us," he said.

Matichukcame out of nowhere in 2010 to unseat a seasoned politician from the mayor's chair, but this timeshe was the veteran going down to a political rookie.

But she said she was not disappointed in the result and left the door open to running in another election in the future.

Earlier in the day, the two candidatesmade very different pitches to party faithful at a nomination meeting this afternoon.

Paul Lefebvre spoke first to the downtown hotel ballroom jammed with hundreds of Sudbury Liberals.

"In every town, in every city in Northern Ontario, there are people who get involved in their community. Who try to make it better. Who help others," said Lefebvre,who owns French newspapers and radio stations in the region and is also involved in several community groups.

"I come from that kind of family. That's the kind of family Lyne and I are raising here in Sudbury."

Lefebvresaid he hopes to follow in the footsteps of great localLiberals like Rick Bartolucci, and the last Liberal to hold the Sudbury seat, thelate Diane Marleau, whose husband Paul introduced him.

"You learn you have to work with others to get things done," Lefebvresaid."That's who I am."

Former Greater Sudbury Mayor Marianne Matichukpainted herself as the candidate who can actually take the seat back after seven years under the NDP.

"The reason I'm running for nomination is my team did an Oracle Poll to see who would win the seat. I came in with a resounding 48 per cent to win," said Matichuk.

"We need a candidate with these high polling numbers, name recognition and the ability to pull Conservative and NDP votes."

Matichuk decided not to run for a second term as mayor, citing undisclosed "personal commitments." But shortly after she was considered by the provincial Liberals as a candidate in last year's general election, as well as the February Sudbury by-election.

She was introducedas a "household name" and "life-long Liberal," but Matichuk famously said after winning the mayoral race in 2010 that her staff had to explain to her the difference between right and left wing politics.

"This is not about me," she said of her federal candidacy. "This is about getting the federal support we need to build our city."

About 1,400 Liberal members in Sudburywere eligible to vote in the nomination race, but 683 ballots were actually cast. As per usual with nomination meetings, the exact vote count was not released.

The New Democrats have yet to choose a candidate to replace former Sudbury MP Glenn Thibeault who defected to the provincial Liberals late last year.

Accountant Fred Sladeis the Conservative candidate in the Sudbury riding for the second straight election, while economist David Robinson, who ran for the Greens in the recent provincial by-election, will also run in the federal election, currently scheduled for October.