Liberal incumbent van Koeverden holds off Conservative challenger Akbar in Milton

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The battle over who will represent Milton on Parliament Hill came down to Liberal Party incumbent and decorated Olympian Adam van Koeverden and Conservative Party challenger Nadeem Akbar as polls closed Monday night.

With 92 percent of polls reporting, van Koeverden was re-elected with 51 percent of the 48,000 votes counted while Akbar trailed with 33 percent.

Meanwhile, the NDP’s Muhammad Riaz Sahi received 9 percent of the vote, Shibli Haddad representing the People’s Party of Canada earned 4 percent, and Chris Kowalchuk for the Green Party garnered 2 percent.

The riding is made up of the town of Milton and a small portion of Burlington, west of Toronto.

During the campaign, van Koeverden focused his efforts on climate change and public transit.

“I’m really proud of the record that we stand upon, the record of our government over the past six years and particularly … in the last two years,” van Koeverden said recently about the Liberal’s record on the environment.

“I’m proud to go to the doors and say our government invested here in Milton – $4 million more for public transit, which is unprecedented. We also got 50,000 trees planted in our riding over the last two years through the $2 billion tree program.”

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Van Koeverden, a four-time Olympic medallist — including a gold medal — in sprint kayak, touted the Liberal record on the environment.

“We’ve been talking about our plan. We’ve been talking about how great it is. Obviously, we believe it’s the best, but you don’t have to be a Liberal to believe that the plan — our plan — to fight climate change and protect the environment is the best. All the independent reviews out there feel the same way.”

Akbar campaigned on how the country will recover from the economic ravages of COVID-19, which involves support for working women and families with children.

“How we recover from the pandemic and secure the future of our country is on the line,” Akbar, the married father of three, shared on social media.

During the campaign, Akbar received endorsements from longtime Milton Mayor Gordon Krantz and former Conservative MP Lisa Raitt, who represented the riding from 2008 to 2019 before being unseated by van Koeverden.

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Akbar, who has volunteered in the past for the Conservative Party before throwing his hat in the ring, works as a corporate IT consultant.

Milton has seen its population explode in recent years, growing from nearly 76,000 people in 2011 to 101,715 in 2016, according to Statistics Canada. Immigrants make up more than one-third of its residents.