NDP reaction in Vernon

"I want to thank my campaign team," said Mark Steven Olsen, NDP candidate for Vernon-Monashee shortly after losing to Liberal incumbent Eric Foster.  "They were phenomenal, they were tireless, they were dedicated and I tell ya, I am a winner just for knowing them.  They were fantastic."

Photo: Contributed - wikipedia.org

Mark Steven Olsen, NDP candidate for Vernon-Monashee.

"I also want to thank my family for the support they gave me throughout the whole election."

"I don't think anyone saw this coming.  I thought it would be a closer race here."

"i am surprised by the outcome.  We ran a really good campaign.  We worked hard to identify the vote and get the vote out but they were more successful.  My hat's off to Eric (Foster) and his team."

"It's a little early to determine what the difference was, I think they ran a good campaign and they got more votes than us."

When asked about the polls that predicted an NDP victory, he said, "You have to wonder what they based those numbers on, because we heard a number of times that the polls are not quite as accurate as they project to be and we'll have to analyze a bit."

"I wanted to run an honourable campaign, and I did, and I made sure my people ran an honourable campaign."