Ivan Yiu, president of the Etobicoke North Federal Liberal Riding Association, chalked up Duncan's win in the face of Liberal Party decimation country-wide to her relentless energy, enthusiasm and plain old hard work.

"At this point, on a night where so much of the country has experienced bad news for the Liberal brand...we have shown the country how the Liberal brand can win," he said to cheers from a crowd of more than 150 Duncan supporters at Forum Banquet Hall Monday night. "You win by being the most caring, the most loving, the most hard-working Member of Parliament in Canada. There's no secret to it, it's just hard work."

Vowing to continue that hard work with renewed vigour in the days to come, Duncan said her local mandate in the mainly working-class riding hasn't changed just because her party dropped to third place.

"We will work hard for the people here, we will fight for the things I promised - for childcare, for post-secondary education, for health care, for jobs. We'll fight for family reunification, too, because it's been slashed, and for foreign credential recognition," she told The Guardian during an interview following her victory speech.

Duncan said she was also thrilled at her re-election for the opportunity it affords her to continue work on her passion projects at the national level - namely her support of MS patients, veterans, and her work on rare disorders such as sickle cell anemia.

That work begins later this week, she said, with two speaking engagements in as many weeks related to her fight for clinical trials for Chronic Cerebrospinal Venous Insufficiency (CCSVI) therapy, also known as the "Liberation Procedure." The controversial multiple sclerosis procedure, which was denied funding for a pan-Canadian trial by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and MS Society of Canada last August, involves standard balloon angioplasty and was pioneered by an Italian doctor to treat CCSVI patients.

Duncan's first stop will be at the Toronto CCSVI Rally at Queen's Park on Thursday; the second will see her travel to California.

"There is no rest," she said, laughing at her already jam-packed schedule. "We've killed ourselves for two-and-a-half years, and I'll be honest, I've had one day off since last May. But it's worth it - we work hard and we get things done."

Monday night's election results maintained the Liberal status quo in Etobicoke North dating back to 1988, despite fears that the Conservatives might sweep to power in the riding on the endorsement of Mayor Rob Ford, who served the southern half of the riding as Ward 2 city councillor for 10 years before being elected mayor last year.

When all votes were tallied, Duncan emerged victorious with 13,653 votes (42.3 per cent), followed by Conservative candidate Priti Lamba with 10,395 votes (32.2 per cent), and NDP candidate Diana Andrews with 7,625 votes (23.6 per cent).

The three main candidates were followed distantly by Libertarian candidate Alex Dvornyak with 210 votes (0.7 per cent), Marxist-Leninist candidate Anna Di Carlo with 189 votes (0.6 per cent), and Christian Heritage candidate John C. Gardner with 185 votes (0.6 per cent).

http://www.insidetoronto.com/news/local/article/1002089--etobicoke-north-hard-working-duncan-ready-to-fight-for-her-community