Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com

PARRY SOUND-MUSKOKA — Scott Aitchison wasted no time after winning the federal election last night.

Within two hours of declaring victory, the Conservative MP-elect ended his leave of absence as Huntsville’s mayor, effective at 11:59 p.m.

This morning he was back in his office at town hall cleaning out his desk in anticipation of his next move to Ottawa.

To be fair, he wasn’t exactly fleeing to beat the witching hour.

Oct. 22 was always the circled date — win or lose — to return to municipal politics.

Whether it was for a week — as it will be after he resigns at his final town council meeting next week — or now at least four years or more, he was going to be back on the job Tuesday.

Already, deputy Mayor Karen Terziano, the interim municipal government leader has declared to her intention as of this afternoon to retain her stronghold on the seat of power as her fellow councillors decide what next to do.

Aitchison’s leave co-incides with the midway point of his second municipal term, meaning there may not be appropriate amount of time to call a byelection. However council could just seek applications to fill a vacant council seat should Terziano be unopposed in her bid leaving open her councillor’s seat.

A dark horse in that race for mayor could be the former Independent MP.

Crunching the numbers …

Meanwhile, the rest of the local candidates are left licking their wounds.

While last night’s national voting was down two points to 66.9 per cent from 68.5 per cent in 2015; in this riding it rose by 614 voters.

So, there were plenty of votes to go around this time — 51,893 to be exact.

Four years ago the total voters here were  51,279.

Aitchison won last night by 6,012 votes: 21,728 to the 15,716 cast for Liberal Trisha Cowie.

In 2015, fellow Tory Tony Clement beat Cowie by a margin of 2,269 — 22,206 to 19,937.

By that, it means the  Conservatives under Aitchison dropped 478 votes.

Cowie, meanwhile, in her second bid for the prized seat, plummeted by 4,221.

So, why did she lose so precipitously?

Well, let’s look at some more numbers.

Primarily, it would appear it’s the Green party’s climate change surge of 4,261 voters. Gord Miller’s 7,965 votes bettered Glen Hodgson’s 3,704 last time.

Right there, that’s simply why she lost.

Now, let’s take a look at the NDP. Tom Young picked up 1,036 new votes this time, coming in at 6,219; which is a bit better than Matthew McCarthy had when he last ran with 5,183.

First blush — sober second thoughts …

Let’s see, of the 12 bravehearts who stood this election and last (5 and 7), Cowie was the only party repeat.

She was arguably the most eligible, given the political climate, and it was she who was first to label the race as “anyone’s to win,” without an incumbent.

A Liberal female lawyer who is a First Nations member.

Let’s break that down:

Liberal: check, believes in all that Justin Trudeau and his party stands for;

Female: check, fits into Trudeau’s bid for half his candidates to be women;

Lawyer: check, obviously smart enough to pass the bar exam, and practises in the riding;

Indigenous: check, would have been good representative and strong fighter in reconciliation efforts.

All the boxes filled in.

So, why did she lose?

Was it because of Aitchison, Miller and Young themselves, and how she compared to them and their policies? And all their performances on stage in debates? And one on one?

Or was it because she said all the right things, but didn’t do as she said, sounding a lot like her leader — who is returning?

A big part of her campaign was telling voters they could hold her accountable in four years and tell her how many of her promises she kept.

Well, she won’t get that chance.

Miller, too, was up to the task. But in his second or third election campaign, he looked like he was a graduate student working on his masters.

He was obviously well versed on his subject matter — the environment — but like his party leader he had trouble articulating deeper parts of policy without reverting, too often, t what he knew and would best do well at.

If keeping on message is a fault, so be it.

And Young is an equally adept party animal.

By parroting platform and policy not unheard of previously here by McCarthy and Wendy Wilson, Joe-Ann Boulding (3 times), Joanne Bury, Carl Wirth, Shirley Davy, Joanne Malchuk, Dennis Hay (3 times), Anne Malton (twice), Ward Agnew and Hugh Bishop (twice) before Young, back to 1961 when the NDP emerged out of the CCF.

Young would have been a good MP the way Dan Waters was when he was the NDP MPP.

However, all of the above succumbed to their leaders’ fate, and not too surprisingly.

Aitchison was the only one of these to buck the night’s national trend.

Something PS-M voters now have a reputation for — not siding or sitting with the governing bench.

But, I guess that’s shows something. Whether it’s being independent, unapologetic, carefree, careless, dumb or true to a fault(y party).

More likely, Aitchison’s success is tied to the Tory blue that lit up the Bracebridge Falls, which was basked in eerie blue lights last night.

And if Doug Ford didn’t help Andrew Scheer, he likely helped Aitchison by not immediately shutting down the back-and-forth two-hospital scenario playing out in Muskoka.

Huntsville and Bracebridge will keep their hospitals, for better or worse, and Aitchison and his Conservative sidekick  Bracebridge Mayor Graydon Smith are claiming healthy credit for that.

Payday was Tuesday. And Tories deep in Huntsville and Bracebridge cashed the same cheque they have for most of the past 70 years — 17 times out of 23 elections.

And it’s dirty money.

To the victor goes the spoils ….

What does all this mean for PS-M …?

Well, on the surface, little.

We’ll return to political obscurity, a hibernating hinterland hidden in the middle of a rich country and mostly forgotten, except when the army comes to bail us out of our next flood — or when another celebrity death surfaces with a buzz on your phone.

But, ultimately, there is a big price to be paid now and in the future.

Not one we’re unfamiliar with, for this tragic comedy has played out in these storied green shores for seven decades, since our PTSD men and women came limping home for the Second World War to rebuild their shattered lives.

And contribute much more, I hasten to add, for our communities without complaint.

But this is not 1945, 1965, 1995 or even 2005.

Today, the world our soldiers went out to defend is past lapping at our doorstep.

And unless we put down the same welcome mat our ancestors crossed overseas onto, we’re destined to eke out the meagre, miserable, miserly life too many lackluster, lackey politicians have dug for us.

Having one foot in the rut is like having one foot in the grave, as it is said.

If Aitchison wants to go to Ottawa and represent Parry Sound-Muskoka, he has to do more than he said on the campaign trail.

Actions talk louder than words.

Tony Clement found that out.

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