Fanjoy won in the early hours of the morning following election night as Elections Canada counted the ballots in Carleton, which had the highest voter turnout in the country.

He had been campaigning for about two years, before the election was called, after he said he saw a need for better leadership in Carleton.

Poilievre had held the seat for two decades, but on the night the Conservatives lost the election under his leadership, he also lost his own seat.

Liberal strategist John O’Leary said Fanjoy’s is a story of faith and possibility, and serves of a reminder of the power of voter.

“Very often in a race like this, where you’re running against the leader of the party or against a well-known incumbent, and you’re clearly the underdog, very often, you will pick up on something locally that has happened and that has perhaps leading to some, some discontent, and could give you an opening,” he told Ottawa Compass. 

“In a case like in Carleton, Pierre Poilievre was the leader, and had been the leader for some time now,” he continued. “He would have responsibilities that could take him out of the riding very often, and there may have been a sense that he wasn’t there enough.”

On April 28, Fanjoy spent the day meeting with various supporters and volunteers before watching the results with close friends and family.

“I wanted to make sure they knew how proud I was of each and every one of them because it had been a remarkable campaign,” Fanjoy told Ottawa Compass. “Regardless of how the vote would have turned out, winning is a process. 

“I had been watching our volunteers winning for a long time and particularly during the campaign, so I was very much at peace,” he continued. “I felt confident that we had done everything that we could, and it was now up to the voters in Carleton to tell us how we did.”

Fanjoy achieved 50.8 per cent of the vote, while Poilievre won 45.8 per cent. In the end, Fanjoy won by 4,315 ballots.

Strategists have suggested that Fanjoy will be given a strong role in the House of Commons as recognition for flipping the seat, but he said it was “too premature” to speculate on this; he said he met with Prime Minister Mark Carney last week, but that for now, he’s focussed on representing Carleton as an MP.

“I’ll be talking to people across the riding, talking to community associations, not-for-profits, business associations, farmers. I want to make sure that I take to Parliament a strong sense of the priorities of the riding,” he said.

One of the priorities that is top-of-mind for him is Canada’s relationship with United States President Donald Trump, he said, who met Tuesday with Carney in Washington for the first time since the election.

“We’re determined to stand up to the United States administration on this matter, and defend Canadian sovereignty, expand our trading relationships with reliable partners and support Canadian industry and workers and families in the meantime,” said Fanjoy.

O’Leary said part of Fanjoy’s success could be attributed to the national message that Carney represented. 

“If the ballot question overall was who was the best to stand up to Donald Trump, the voters of Carleton actually had to make that decision on their own ballot. And it they had a choice to vote for Pierre poilievre for someone else, and more than 50 per cent of them chose Bruce Vanjoy and, by proxy, Mark Carney,” he said. “It’s more of a direct endorsement of Mark Carney.

“I think that there is a lot to do with that national issue being confronted by people at the ballot box.”

He said the daily door-knocking and “boots-on-the-ground” campaigning that Fanjoy had taken on were also responsible in securing the seat as the volunteers and campaign team’s hard work paid off.

An “underdog politician” like Fanjoy “defies conventional politics,” he added, and can achieve victories that were previously “unthinkable’ with the right volunteers, message, “grit’ and hard work.

“At the beginning of the campaign, Bruce would have seen it coming, but a lot of other people would have thought that this would be an incredibly difficult lift, certainly until a few months ago,” said O’Leary. “The idea of Pierre Poilievre losing his own seat in an election would be almost unthinkable.

“But I think that as the campaign progressed and as the national numbers were holding well, and as Mark Carney got through a successful debate performance, they started to have faith and belief in Bruce Fanjoy.”

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Pierre Poilievre first won the Carleton seat in 2004 from Liberal incumbent David Pratt and has held it since. However, polls from 338Canada are no longer predicting the riding as a “safe seat” for the Conservatives, and the latest update from April 22 saw Poilievre down by 8 per cent, and the Liberals up by the same margin.

Running against him is Bruce Fanjoy, a father of two, avid community volunteer, general contractor, and first-time candidate for the Liberal Party who is trying to close the gap. He sat down with Ottawa Compass to introduce himself and why he decided to become “the guy taking on Pierre Poilievre”, as one of his slogans says.

Bruce, this is your first time running for government. How is the campaign going so far?

It’s going really well. I think people recognize the historic moment that we’re facing, and then the need to have serious leaders, not just at the top with a prime minister like Mark Carney, but but all through the House of Commons…People who are going to stand up to Donald Trump and guide Canadians through this critical moment, and take care of our industries, our workers and their families.

As you’ve said, you’ve never run before. Why is now the time to step into politics?

I could see, even before the re-election of Donald Trump, that this was going to be a historic election. Like many people in this region, you know, the occupation of Ottawa, falling on the heels of the attack on the United States Capitol, just represented a very ugly turn in our politics.

In Carleton, we have a unique responsibility to deal with our Pierre Poilievre problem. I’ve been at this for over two years, and Pierre, I believe, is completely unfit for any moment to hold power, but particularly this moment.

He’s a career politician who’s accomplished very little with the opportunity that’s been given to him. He hasn’t even shown up in Carleton in this election, and the people of Carleton see that, and they feel taken for granted by him. They have for a long time, and nobody likes to feel taken for granted.

So you’ve been at this for two years, which means you had decided to run since before Mark Carney became the Liberal Leader.

Yes. That’s how important it was to me. I knocked on over 15,000 doors before the election writ was dropped. I felt that we had the opportunity to do something here.

At first, I didn’t see myself doing it. I was trying to think, who can do this? But I realized that it’s a pretty unattractive proposition for most people, and I gradually realized that it would be really hard to find someone to do this, and at the same time realized that I could do it.

I could put in the time. I have the skills and the background, and it was just too important to leave it undone.

What have you been hearing from people in Carleton on the campaign trail about some of the issues they’re facing?

I think Canadians are more engaged than they have been in a long time in a federal election, and it’s because of the economic moment that we find ourselves in with, with Donald Trump and his economic hostility to Canada, his political hostility to Canada, and so — we’ve seen this before in Canadians, in a moment of adversity —- we come together. And it’s been remarkable to see Canada unite to meet this moment.

It’s not surprising that Pierre Poilievre is struggling to find his feet in this moment.

I’m listening to what obstacles they’re facing, and I can be their voice and their advocate in the House of Commons .

The Canadian economy and how it’s performing affects everyone in Carleton, and the tariff issue we’ll be addressing nationally, but I’ll be doing my best to address locally as well.

And the public service really plays an important role. The public service will be helping us to get through this crisis, so I will be there, learning from and supporting their efforts as well.

Are you from Carleton personally?

I have lived in Ottawa for over two decades and in Carleton for four cyears, but I’m one of those Canadians who lived around the country. In fact, one of the reasons why we settled ultimately in Ottawa, is that I feel the whole country when I’m in Ottawa.

That’s part of being a national capital.

What else do you want Carleton voters to know about you?

I never thought I would run for office. I’m doing this because of the historic election that we’re in right now, and Carleton’s unique opportunity and responsibility to to meet this moment, not only for ourselves, but for the whole country.

I think that the whole country is watching Carleton right now, and I think it’ll be one of the most watched races on election night, and with good reason, because we are at a fork in the road, and the direction we choose this election will have profound consequences for not just the next four years, but for at least a generation.

We’re going to be working as hard as possible to help people make a really good choice on April 28. But ultimately, that decision will be in the hands of the people of Carleton.

On Jan. 5, the Conservatives had a comfortable 65 per cent of the popular vote, 388 Canada said, with the Liberals trailing behind with 15 per cent. On April 4, there had been a drastic change, with the Conservatives dropping to 50 per cent and the Liberals only 10 percentage points behind. 

So while the odds still appear to be in Poilievre’s favour, the polls for his riding are not as confident in his victory as they have been in the past. It is no longer considered a “safe” seat for Poilievre, 388 Canada, and while he is still leading, it’s not by as large a margin as we’ve seen before. 

“I would anticipate Mr. Poilievre being successful in his riding,” Marci Surkes, managing director of Compass Rose and former executive director of policy and cabinet affairs in the Prime Minister’s Office, told Ottawa Compass. “That said, if their internal polls and external polling continue to demonstrate a Conservative slide, Mr. Poilievre may have to focus more on his riding than he might otherwise have had to, and that will be a consideration for their national tour.”

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