Ex Gay Hustler Elected To Canadian Parliament

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Ex Gay Hustler Elected To Canadian Parliament

by The Canadian Press

Posted: November 28, 2006 12:01 am ET

(London, Ontario) The Liberals fended off a surprising Green party charge to win the federal byelection in London North Centre on Monday night.

In the Montreal-area riding of Repentigny, the Bloc Quebecois cruised to an easy victory.

The results were another blow for Prime Minister Stephen Harper on a day when he lost a cabinet minister over his motion to declare the Quebecois a nation.

Tory vote totals were off in London and unchanged in Repentigny, despite the nation motion which was supposed to boost Tory fortunes in Quebec.

In London, Liberal Glen Pearson took just over a third of the vote to stave off Elizabeth May, leader of the Green party, who finished second in a bid to win her party's first seat in the Commons.

She took five times the vote that the Greens got last January and siphoned votes from all the other parties in fashioning her strong challenge.

The Conservatives and the NDP were well back in the riding, which has been a Liberal seat for two decades.

In Repentigny, Raymond Gravel, who went from gay hustler to Roman Catholic priest, carried the Bloc to an unsurprising win in a seat where the party took 62 per cent of the vote last time out.

He had more than two thirds of the vote as he built a three-to-one lead over Conservative candidate Stephane Bourgon.

Repentigny came open after Bloc MP Benoit Sauvageau died in a traffic accident in August.

The London seat was left vacant after Liberal Joe Fontana resigned to make a failed bid to become the city's mayor.

While Pearson celebrated holding a Liberal seat, May could look on a moral victory.

Her showing likely sent a chill through the New Democrats, whose vote was down more than a third from the totals they amassed in January.

Conservative challenger Dianne Haskett, a controversial former mayor who was once chastised by the Ontario Human Rights Commission for refusing to declare a gay pride event in London, got about a quarter of the vote. In last January's election, the Conservatives took just under 30 per cent.

©365Gay.com 2006

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