By Joanie Veitch - The Weekly News
After five weeks on the campaign trail, Darren Fisher - councillor-elect for East Dartmouth-The Lakes - spent much of Sunday taking down 330 election signs.
"I'm exhausted," he said in a phone interview from his home on Sunday evening. "I seriously need some sleep. I hardly slept at all last night."
Fisher, 43, won the electoral district byelection with 1,994 votes last Saturday, 1,138 votes ahead of Brian Warshick, who has previously held that council seat.
"It's still hard to take in. I didn't think we'd win it. I figured I'd come in second or third, but not first. When the early results came up, we couldn't believe it," Fisher said.
When the congratulation calls came in from some of the other candidates - Tracey Devereaux and Phil Brown being the first to call - he knew it was real.
Fisher, who co-owns Nic Nax General Store and Nic Nax Smokeshop in Halifax, credited his team for helping him run a strong campaign, and said it was knocking on the doors that made all the difference.
"I really enjoyed that part of it. I met some of the most amazing people and just wanted to stand and talk. I think it all came down to that personal contact," Fisher said.
Warshick, who garnered 856 votes, said he enjoyed the door-to-door contact as well - and it proved to have hidden health benefits.
"I knocked on over 4,000 doors. I lost 9 lbs and wore out a $70 pair of sneakers. The 9 lbs was good, too bad about the sneakers though," he said.
According to the HRM Elections website, the unofficial results saw 4,391 voters cast their ballots, with more voters than ever before using online voting.
Linda Grant, returning officer for HRM, said having online voting available for a full week increased the number of people choosing that option compared to last year's municipal election.
"Last October, we only had online voting for three days, so this time we tried the full week," she said. "People like the convenience and the candidates did a good job of promoting it too."
The District 6 council position has been vacant since Andrew Younger resigned after he won a seat for the Liberals in the provincial election on June 9.
Younger issued a press release on the day following the byelection, congratulating Fisher on his win and indicating he is pleased the residents of District 6 have chosen "someone whose track record indicates he will work well with his constituents and his counterparts in the provincial and federal governments.
"I've known Darren for five years and worked with him on various projects. I know he's a hard worker who will serve the residents of District 6 and HRM very well," said Younger. "I look forward to meeting with Darren in the next few days to go over the major files, as well as some ongoing issues in the district."
Fisher lives in East Dartmouth with his wife Anne and two children, eight-year-old Bruen and five-year-old Ava.
joanie.veitch@gmail.com
RESULTS
Darren Fisher: 1,994
Brian Warshick: 856
Tracey Devereaux: 826
Phil Brown: 349
Robin L. Allen: 187
John McMillan: 101
Shane Dafoe: 78
