Nanaimo-Ladysmith federal Conservative candidate Mark MacDonald says he's done with politics.
As of 10:12 p.m. on election night, MacDonald was in third place in the riding, with 11,358 votes, behind Liberal Tim Tessier (12,094) and leading candidate, NDP's Sheila Malcolmson (15,582).
When asked if he would give it another run in the next election, MacDonald said he wouldn't, nor at any other level of government.
“I gave it everything I had. I've been at this for a year and we're very thankful for a great family. [It] allowed us to run ... I told people, seriously, you have no idea what it costs to run ... I'm done,” said MacDonald.
He said he was disappointed in the results and said he and his team had a “good ground game.”
Supporters sign "card" for @MarkMacDonald30. #elxn42 #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/EphwPqtTDc
— Karl Yu (@KarlYuBulletin) October 20, 2015
“[Campaign manager] Glen McPherson did a fantastic job,” said MacDonald. “On the doorstep, we had very good response. I didn't hit every house in Nanaimo, although I wore out four pairs of shoes. The one-on-one response was good, but there was a palpable hatred for [Prime Minister Stephen] Harper ...”
MacDonald said he wouldn't doing anything different on the campaign trail.
“We left nothing on the table. We had the right people involved. We had a tremendous group of volunteers ... I couldn't possibly work any harder. My legs have been dead for a month,” he said.