Starting over Former hotel, tenants to get new lease on life Page A3
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Rankin tops byelection poll for NDP
LIFE AFTER POLITICS
Victoria riding gives Greens solid support Daniel Palmer
Denise Savoie talks about her health, her impressions of Ottawa and her future
News staff
Roszan Holmen News staff
T
he state of journalism is top of mind for Denise Savoie. The case of Jill Winzoski weighs on her – and it’s the first topic of conversation during a recent coffeeshop meet-up. The Manitoba reporter was fired recently, after a Conservative MP complained about her allegedly biased reporting. It’s an example of a larger trend, she points out: journalists who ask investigative questions are sidelined and scientists don’t want to be quoted. “A culture of fear has deepened over Political record for the time I’ve been in Denise Savoie: Ottawa,” Savoie says. ■ Victoria city It’s been three councillor, 1999 to months since her 2005 (re-elected in sudden resignation, 2002) midway through ■ Victoria member her third term as of parliament 2006 Victoria’s member of to 2012 (re-elected Parliament. Reflecting in 2008 and 2011) on her time in federal politics, she has one dominant impression: “I remember before I went to Ottawa, I felt, as a Canadian, that our democracy was rock solid … and it’s been shaken.”
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Former NDP MP Denise Savoie relaxes at Banfield Park near her home in Vic West. She’s enjoying taking things a little slower in retirement. Interrupting herself, she apologizes for the New Democrat partisan speak. Politics aren’t the main reason for today’s interview. Savoie gratefully acknowledges the widespread concern in the community about her health – the reason behind her unexpected departure. It’s a topic she doesn’t want to discuss in any detail, but does see the need to address in broad terms.
“It isn’t that I’m deathly ill,” she clears up, right off the bat. “If I were younger, I could have continued, but I knew my health was taking a beating and that became important to me to be around for my grandkids and for myself,” she says. “I think I can manage it now.” PLEASE SEE: Ottawa fails to shake, Page A9
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Murray Rankin may have won Monday’s federal byelection in the Victoria riding, but the Orange wave didn’t roll until late in the evening. Donald Galloway and the Green Party proved themselves the only real contender besides the NDP, while the Liberals and Conservatives struggled to gain momentum. Frontrunner Rankin surged ahead only in the final hour of poll results, taking a commanding 1,200-vote lead. At several points throughout the night, Galloway and Rankin swapped the lead. Galloway seemed stunned by his own success earlier on, before conceding to Rankin at about 10:35 p.m. “I think we’ve won, whatever happened,” he said. “We’ve run a fabulous campaign. I don’t think they (the NDP) expected this.” NDP supporters at the Fairmont Empress Hotel, who had been anxious for most of the night, were jovial after Rankin’s victory speech. “Like Paul McCartney’s long and winding road, I never expected it to be quite such a nailbiter,” he said. “But at the end of the day, we won, and that’s the thing I treasure,” said Rankin, who succeeds retired NDP MP Denise Savoie. Conservative candidate Dale Gann was expected to finish with roughly 14 per cent support, while Liberal Paul Summerville had nearly 13 per cent of the vote. dpalmer@vicnews.com
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