Filomena was my Liberal opponent and damn near defeated me. It was close. I'm going by memory, but I think I won by 900 votes and change.
Quite frankly, if the Cons hadn't done so well, I'd have gone down the tubes. But because it was a Harris landslide, there was enough spillover—they could never win Hamilton Centre—to save my rear end. That's the closest election I've ever had. I just barely won. I'd just point out to the government backbenchers that out of the 17 elected only four weren't ministers, which shows how hard it is to survive when the tide goes out if you don't have the added profile of having been a cabinet minister, with all the benefits of that. You can show that you've done things, yada, yada.... There were only four of that 17, so when government backbenchers—most of you—start to see these kinds of stars lining up, take a look at what's in front of you.
The Conservatives and the NDP are practically blood brothers over here. Do you know that once a day we hook arms and sing Kumbaya? If it were allowed, we'd have a little campfire and we'd wear team jackets.