By Diane Strandberg

Veteran New Democrat standard bearer Dawn Black slowed the Tory juggernaut in B.C. by relaiming her New Westminster-Coquitlam seat and increasing her popular vote in Tuesday's federal election.

Jubilant and flanked by members of her family, including seven grandchildren, Black thanked supporters who crowded around her in a small New Westminster restaurant. The tight race was no surprise to Black who said the three per cent difference between her votes and those of Conservative Yonah Martin was expected.

"But as the polls came through I never once was behind," Black said.

She credited the hard work of supporters—"it was work, work and more work," and a general dissatisfaction with the Liberal Party under Stéphane Dion for the fact that more voters, 41.7 per cent, cast a ballot for her, compared to 38.31per cent in 2006.

Many Liberals in the largely working class riding that stretches from New Westminster to Port Moody parked their vote with either the Conservative or NDP candidate, an anti-Liberal vote that was replicated in ridings throughout B.C. This time around 11.3 per cent of voters supported Liberal Michelle Hassen, compared to 25.53 per cent who voted Liberal in 2006.

Hassen congratulated Black on her win and said she hoped voters who moved their vote to stop Stephen Harper would return to the Liberal fold next time.

"People lent her their support," Hassen said, to explain the collapse of the Liberal vote in the riding. "I heard consistently on the door stop that people do believe in that vision of a balanced government," she said.

An international relations specialist who works for the Red Cross, Hassen said she wouldn't rule out a second run for politics.

"It was a great experience."

Black and Martin, a Korean-born middle school teacher, were never more than 300 to 400 votes apart during the first few hours after the polls closed but by 10 p.m., Martin still hadn't conceded to Black even though the vote spread had increased substantially.

However, the mood in the conference room at the Coquitlam Best Western Hotel was sombre as supporters watched Harper's address to the nation. Dozens of workers stood around talking quietly, Martin was pressed into a scrum by half-a-dozen members of the multicultural media. Looking confident and slipping easily between English and Korean, Martin said she wanted to wait for a few more polls to come in before throwing in the towel.

"Not yet," Martin said, when asked whether she was ready to concede, adding that she was proud to be a Conservative and was impressed with Canadians who helped Harper increase the number of seats in a minority government from 130 to 143 by 10:30 p.m. (PST)

"The economy took centre stage. Canadians made the right decision," Martin said.

Some of the Liberal fallout in the riding went to the Green Party, which more than doubled its votes to 3.381 or 7.3 per cent compared to 2006, when the candidate polled just 1,491 votes (2.95%).

58.9% of polls reporting

NDP Dawn Black 19,449 41.7%

Libertarian Lewis Dahlby 330 0.7%

Liberal Michelle Hassen 5,258 11.3%

Conservative Yonah Martin 18,084 38.8%

Green Party Marshall Smith 3,381 7.3%

Marxist-Leninist Roland Verrier 94 0.2%