Voters in Sarnia-Lambton-Bkejwanong are sending Marilyn Gladu back to Ottawa.
Conservative Marilyn Gladu was elected to a fourth term in the House of Commons in the 45th general election.
Her victory was celebrated by dozens of supporters at The Royal Canadian Naval Association Monday.
Gladu was first elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for the riding of Sarnia-Lambton in 2015.
Speaking with Sarnia News Today, she said she couldn't have done it without the help from her campaign team.
"The challenge was 20,000 new people to introduce myself to, and to make myself available throughout the riding which has doubled in geographic size," said Gladu. "So, we did that and the response at the doors was really good. We also had a lot of people who were in super rural areas, so we had to call into those."
Gladu said there are a number of local issues that she would like to see addressed in the coming years.
"In the last 10 years, I've brought over $400 million to Sarnia-Lambton, I've got support for all the major projects," she said. "The government knows we have affordable housing projects that are shovel ready. Ontario Power Generation has also been given a mandate to develop the Lambton Generating Station with the co-gen small modular nuclear reactors and alternate energy plant in conjunction with Aamjiwnaang. The federal government needs to be a part of that. We don't have enough electricity on the grid. These are jobs for us that are great jobs. We have the experience to do that."
Gladu was pleased by the strong turnout during advance polls.
"We had about 24,000 or more show up at the advance polls," said Gladu. "That just shows people are engaged in democracy. That's, to me, what it's all about."
She wasn't concerned about having to work with a Liberal minority government.
"One thing I've proven is that even when there's a Liberal government in place, I have those relationships to work across the aisle to get the money and the support we need here in Sarnia-Lambton. I'm determined to do that again," she said.
Liberal candidate George Vandenberg was watching the polls come in with friends, family and party supporters at the Best Western Plus Guildwood Inn on Venetian Boulevard.
He was optimistic most of the night that the riding could flip to red, but eventually he accepted the defeat as runner-up.
"I came into this with my eyes wide open and I knew that I had a good shot, but at the end of the day... here we are," Vandenberg said.
Although the local result wasn't what Vandenberg and his supporters wanted, the room vibrated with cheers when television broadcasters projected a Liberal government and again when Prime Minister Mark Carney was declared the winner of Nepean riding.
"I met the Prime Minister on Friday night in London. [He's a] very charming, very nice man, down to earth. I had a very nice discussion with him and I'm with him," Vandenberg said.
He was also pleased with the turnout in the advance polls, but admitted the online vitriol he received during his campaign was tiring.
"I wasn't exactly happy with some of the comments on Facebook against me, and I hope that people realize that using Facebook as that kind of medium is not acceptable," Vandenberg said.
Roger Gallaway was the last Liberal to represent Sarnia-Lambton in the House of Commons.
Gallaway was first elected as the member of parliament in 1993, and was re-elected three times until he lost to Conservative Pat Davidson in 2006.
The local riding was renamed Sarnia-Lambton-Bkejwanong under the 2022 Canadian federal electoral redistribution.
It now includes all 11 Lambton municipalities and Walpole Island First Nation.
Places like Lambton Shores, Warwick, Brooke-Alvinston, and Dawn-Euphemia were previously included in the Lambton-Kent-Middlesex riding.
Five other names were on the ballot Monday.
Lo-Anne Chan ran for the New Democratic Party, Libertarian Jacques Boudreau, Brian Everaert for the People's Party of Canada, Mark Lamore carried the banner for the Christian Heritage Party and Tony Mitchell represented the Rhinoceros Party of Canada.
-with files from Melanie Irwin