Bob Rae MP for Toronto Centre

First off, to everyone who knocked on doors, drove cars, dropped leaflets, made food, gave money, telephoned, gave advice, helped - THANK YOU !!

Hardly adequate - the news shows one person temporarily in the spotlight - but in reality every election is about hundreds of people in a riding, almost all volunteers, working their hearts out for a cause.

The candidate's main job is to keep encouraging people to remember the cause - this is how I put it on election night:

"All election victories start with the wonderful volunteers and dedicated Liberals who have been canvassing and helping in the office, combining the technical skill of our internet generation with the great faith of people who have been knocking on doors and engaging the people of Toronto Centre for half a century.

I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. You have given me the chance to return fully to public life, and for this am deeply grateful.

I want to thank my campaign manager Chris Koddermann, my riding president Eric Peterson, Blake Webb, Craig Knowles, and all the volunteers and canvasers who have allowed us to make a difference. I want to thank my leader Stephane Dion for his leadership and integrity. I am proud to be part of his team. Many of my colleagues are with me tonight and I greatly appreciate their presence today and tonight.

We ran a wonderfully positive campaign - and I am proud tonight that the voters of Toronto Centre have embraced love of what's good and possible in Canada and rejected the politics of fear and negativity embraced by some of our opponents.

Toronto Centre includes the wealthiest and the poorest of Canadians, those who have been here for generations and those who have come last week. Gay and straight, black, brown and white, urban professional, workers of every trade and skill, all together we have embraced a new politics of Liberalism, a politics that looks to what we owe each other as Canadians to what we can do for our country, for our families and community.

I have often said in this campaign that I am proudest as a Canadian when we are setting the standard for the rest of the world. Under Stephen Harper we are not living up to that goal - on sustainability, on jobs, on justice, we're falling away and falling behind.

We can do better - on housing, on transit, on environmental innovation, on training, on investment in our cities, we can do better.

Politics these days is not about criticizing Stephen Harper, snapping at his heels, or barking at the passing car - it's about replacing him with a progressive majority - voters who have voted Green, PC, NDP in the past who understand we need a government that is closer to their values. The Liberal Party of Canada can be the voice of all those who seek once again a government they can be proud of - a government as committed to justice as it is to prosperity, as determined to create a more peaceful world as we are to make it sustainable.

Eighty years ago a fourteen year old boy with a sense of humour, a gift for friendship and a passion for the world around him walked down from a basement apartment on Maitland Street and entered the grade nine class at Jarvis Collegiate. He was a proud son of the Toronto of his day.
Now his son stands before you, with deep thanks for your support and with great hopes for the Canada of our time and the future. Thank you so much"

More to follow !