Although Elections Canada hasn't yet made it official, Valerie Bradford says she can now confirm she is the incoming MP for the hotly-contested Kitchener-South Hespeler riding.
Bradford said Wednesday morning that Conservative candidate Tyler Calver called her Tuesday night night to concede.
"He was very kind and gracious. I was very happy to hear from him. He wished me all the best," Bradford said.
In a tweet Tuesday night, Calver offered a video message to his supporters, saying "the results are now in and our side fell a little short in this election campaign."
With 1,958 mail-in ballots still to be verified and counted in the riding, Elections Canada said Wednesday a final official tally won't be ready until at least Thursday.
Regional media advisor with Elections Canada Rejean Grenier confirmed the number of mail-in ballots still to be counted.
On the Elections Canada website, Bradford leads Conservative candidate Tyler Calver by less than 700 votes with 17,621 votes to Calver's 16,953 and 99.49 per cent of the poll results accounted for.
Before the official numbers change, Grenier said verification of all mail-in ballots has to happen first and that takes between three and four hours per 500 ballots.
It takes an additional three to four hours to count 500 ballots once verification is complete.
Work began Tuesday morning to count 3,631 mail-in ballots in Kitchener South-Hespeler.
Bradford admitted it was "a little awkward" on election night, not being able to get the final results and celebrate with her team of supporters.
It's a team that has been working with her since she won the chance to represent the Liberals in the riding last year, shortly after former MP Marwan Tabbara exited the Liberal caucus following his arrest in April 2020.
"It's always been close in this riding and I didn't expect it to be any different this time," she said.
Asked how Hespeler differs from the rest of the riding, Bradford said in many ways it doesn't.
The former economic development professional for the City of Kitchener settled in that part of Cambridge when she moved to the area from Ancaster with her daughters 17 years ago.
"They're concerned about much of the same things as the rest of the country, but obviously there are some things that are of a local focus, more at a municipal level," she said.
Affordability, the environment, COVID recovery were among the universal concerns she heard going door to door.
Once she sets up her constituency office, Bradford said her job going forward will be to reflect those concerns in parliament.
