- Mark Boudreau: ‘I overachieved On Campaign Target’
By Andrew Macdonald
On election day, Mark Boudreau, the Conservative candidate in Halifax, told The Macdonald Notebook that if he got 20 per cent of the vote, then he would have considered he overachieved on his campaign target goals.
While many Tories six months ago had expected NDPer Lisa Roberts to win, Boudreau came second, capturing 19.5 per cent of the vote. Roberts came third with 16.57 per cent of the vote.
The winner, Liberal rookie Shannon Miedema, had a commanding 63.5 per cent of the vote.
Miedema increased the Liberal result from 2021 by 21 per cent more votes than Andy Fillmore in that election.
Roberts dropped her per cent of the vote by 24 per cent compared to 2021, when she came within 1,000 votes of nearly defeating Fillmore, the latter who left federal politics to run successfully as HRM mayor.
It’s clear that Roberts ‘ support bleed to the Liberals in Halifax, given the differences between 2021 and 2025.
The takeaways of the Boudreau campaign is that he came second in the majority of the polls, and led 12 polls, including in his hometown of Spryfield, Sambro, Williamswood, & Armdale.
In the last three elections in Halifax, the Tories under different candidates did not win a single poll. The vote margin in 2021 for another Tory contender was 13 per cent.
“I’m happy that I brought the party to the best results in decades, from about one in ten votes to about one in five,” adds Boudreau. “It was always going to be an uphill battle, and I was definitely the underdog, but I have been the underdog all my life. I am really proud of the campaign I ran….To come up solidly head of the NDP, we outworked Lisa Roberts and over-delivered, for sure.”
Roberts in 2025 did not win a single poll. During the last two weeks of the campaign, the NDPer took to social media, insisting the race was a two-way race between her and the Liberals. She added, “That a vote for the Conservatives was a wasted vote.”
Interesting, Boudreau got more votes than the NDP, while not even popular Tory Premier Tim Houston could stop the provincial NDP surge in the heart of Halifax in the 2024 election.
“I think a lot of people are surprised I upset Lisa Roberts,” Boudreau tells The Macdonald Notebook. “I definitely attribute that to hard work, knocking on 35,000 doors and the large number of young people volunteering.”
It will be interesting when Boudreau files his expenses to Elections Canada, because it is understood he paid some of his door knockers a salary.
But, he says the “vast majority” of his canvassers were volunteers and not paid. Elections Canada allows salaries to be paid in election campaigns. “We only paid a few of our door knockers,” says Boudreau.
The NDP typically pays all of its door knockers and those manning phone banks.
Boudreau had a well-funded campaign. It is understood some Tory ridings in Western Canada loaned funds to Boudreau, which is allowed under Elections Canada finance rules.
“All parties do this. The Poilievre camp identified a number of ridings across the country that they felt earned additional support. Typically, these funds would go to close/swing ridings. We were allocated some funds as a reward, recognition of our outstanding ground game. The Boudreau Blue Crew (his young university door knockers) were consistently one of the top door-knocking crews in the region,” Boudreau tells The Macdonald Notebook.
It is understood that Conservative star Peter MacKay has encouraged Boudreau to run the next time. “I hope you will consider doing it again,” MacKay is said to have told Boudreau, according to Tory sources.
When Justin Trudeau was still PM, during the first two months that Boudreau began campaigning, he says he “absolutely, thought I would have a chance” in winning the riding, which last elected a Tory MP 40 years ago. “But, Trudeau’s resignation took a lot of air, oxygen out of the room because he was so disliked….I do think I had a very good chance, but things obviously changed very quickly.”
Boudreau supports Pierre Poilievre. “I hope that Pierre stays as our leader. We increased our seat count and achieved the highest popular vote since Brian Mulroney (in 1988). I think the circumstances, things we could not control, had an impact on the seat count. I would like to see Pierre stay. I like to see him lead our party into the next election. He had a lot of great successes, and I do not think another leader could have done better, to be honest, given the circumstances.”
Boudreau went on election night to congratulate the Liberal winner, Shannon Miedema and got warm applause from Liberals at the bar where victorious Liberals gathered. “There were 200 people there. I ran in quickly to congratulate Shannon, tell her that she ran a good campaign. When I walked in, everyone there gave me a nice warm welcome and applause. I spoke to a number of people on my way out, and they told me they were surprised that I beat the NDP, but also I got a lot of handshakes on the honourable campaign that I ran and the fact that I never criticized Lisa or Shannon in public or on social media. And, the tone of my campaign was always positive and inspirational, and they (Liberals) really appreciated I took that approach,” says Boudreau. Miedema’s husband said to Boudreau he was impressed with the number of young people working on the Tory campaign.
Mark Boudreau. (The Notebook).
The election results in Halifax. (Elections Canada).
