Marc Garneau has been to space and now, having been re-elected in NDG-Westmount, he could be looking at a spot in Justin Trudeau’s cabinet.
Garneau remained modest when asked about the possibility.
“The leader, of course, makes all decisions,” he said. “I leave it up to him. I will serve in any capacity he decides to give me.”
Garneau, the first Canadian in space, was elected to parliament in 2008.
He was gracious in victory, lavishing praise on his opponent from the NDP, James Hughes.
“I certainly took the challenge very, very seriously,” he said. “I had the opportunity to do debates with James, he’s a formidable opponent, a very respected person.”
In 2011, Garneau won by a mere 642 votes. He said he knew he had a lot of work to do to keep his seat.
"Remember what I said at the beginning. We stayed humble, we stayed united, we were disciplined, and most of all we were passionate," said Garneau.
“There’s no substitute for just hard work, connecting with people, showing you’re available to talk to people about the issues that matter to them, knowing the issues that matter to them,” he said. “It was a slim victory last time and I said to myself ‘I have to work really hard this time.’”
That hard work paid off with a hefty margin of victory. Garneau picked up nearly 30,000 votes, defeating Hughes by 18,404 ballots.
For his part, Hughes offered his congratulations to Garneau, a man he said he respects.
"I think it was an honourable campaign," he said. "He's a classy person and the voters have Marc Garneau, a strong person, to represent them going forward."
Hughes added that though he and his colleagues in the NDP had hoped to do better, they did end up with 20 per cent of the popular vote, which he called "strong."
