Post Byelection Interviews with David Hilderley and Cody Groat

Tuesday, 20 June 2023 11:40

David Hilderley picture submitted by campaign team. Photo credit for Cody Groat picture: Rachael Little

Liberal candidate David Hilderley finished in second place with 36.2 percent of the votes for Oxford, while NDP candidate Cody Groat finished in third place with 10.5 percent of the vote.

OXFORD - It was the most successful federal Liberal campaign in Oxford County in 23 years.

David Hilderley finished in second place as the Liberal candidate in the byelection last night with 13,574 votes. This works out to 36.2 percent of the total vote for Oxford.

Even though he didn't win, Hilderley was very happy to see the Liberal support last night.

"It's an accomplishment for us. I would have liked to have been over the top, but it does tell us that our campaign worked very well, that we worked very well and that there are a lot of Liberal supporters in this county."

The last time the federal Liberals received more than 35 percent of the vote in Oxford was back in 2000, when former Liberal MP John Finlay ran his last campaign.

Arpan Khanna won the byelection last night with 43 percent of the vote, making him the Conservative MP Elect for Oxford.

Hilderley has this advice for Khanna moving forward.

"In our campaign, we were delivering the message that we were from Oxford and for Oxford. Now that he (Arpan Khanna) is elected as our MP, I would really want him to deliver for the folks that live here in Oxford."

You can listen to our full interview with Hilderley below:

Meanwhile, NDP candidate Cody Groat finished in third place with 10.5 percent of the vote last night, but he is proud of his campaign.

"I think we can a very positive campaign, I think we ran a very issues-driven campaign and I think that stood in contrast to what we saw elsewhere."

Groat says Khanna's Conservative campaign focused too much on carbon tax propaganda. He was also very disappointed in the voter turnout for Oxford.

"There was 38 percent turnout, which I think is not something we should be happy with. I think the level of voter apathy really says a lot. There are a lot of serious issues facing us right now in Oxford County and I think if we see a vast majority of people who are disengaged from our political process, that should be cause for concern from all parties."

You can listen to our full interview with Groat below:

You can read more about the federal byelection results online here and you can also listen to our full interview with Conservative MP Elect Arpan Khanna online here.