Following the election this week that saw the Liberal party form a minority government once again, the incumbent candidate for the Portage-Lisgar riding Candice Bergen retained her seat.

She shares her reaction.

"I am just thrilled and so grateful for this steadfast support of so many people throughout the riding," says Bergen. "I'm very honoured that I won this seat and I'm committed to working for those who voted for me, but working just as hard for those who didn't vote for me. I am here to represent all of Portage-Lisgar, and so first and foremost, I'm just so grateful and I just want to thank the people who voted for me and those who were involved in the process."

She notes there's a sadness for the overall election with over $600 million spent for it, and, basically, nothing was changed.

"I would say Justin Trudeau was definitely denied a majority," notes Bergen. "But you know, there are definitely going to be some things that we're thinking about as a party, and we're looking at our platform, and looking at what we presented to Canadians. I know that we'll be talking in caucus about it, and I'm sure there will be a lot of discussions and things happening over the next days and weeks."

She explains it's too early to speculate about how long the time will pass before another election takes place, knowing that a minority government is in power again, and the pandemic is still continuing.

"I think people just want to get back to some normal in terms of getting over COVID and getting life back to some normal," continues Bergen. "Everywhere, we're hearing that, regardless of your political stripe. We want to get back to normal. So, I think heading back to Ottawa is going to be, 'Let's do what's best for the Canadian public. Let's hold the Liberal government to account. Let's ensure that there's accountability, but let's work for the people of this country.' The people deserve some normalcy. They deserve some stability. I would say this was a negative election. It was toxic."

Bergen notes the vaccine issue was politicized on both sides and feels that was wrong.

"You're going to see a Conservative party that will continue to work to unite people, not divide people," adds Bergen. "And certainly, not divide people on something like our healthcare or pandemic, or how we best deal with the pandemic."