Vancouver Centre candidate Michael Byers didn't win October 14, but that didn't mean he stopped campaigning.

As the Straight was waiting to interview him outside Heritage Hall, a scrutineer stopped by to show him where her bridge had fallen off her front teeth earlier in the day. A couple in business clothes stopped to shake his hands. Defeated Vancouver South NDP candidate Ann Chambers hugged him on her way out the door.

"I'm ready to go again. Are you?" Chambers asked Byers smiling.

Byers certainly is. Sipping a well-deserved Sleemen's, Byers told the Straight he'll be back to unseat Hedy Fry.

"I've only been an official candidate for two months," he told the Straight. "We got surprised like everyone else when Stephen Harper broke his own fixed election law. But we had a very strong team, and we were always on the way up."

Byers pointed out he was “in the mix” with three strong candidates: a 15-year incumbent, a sitting MLA, and a deputy party leader. He said he’s happy with the momentum his team built over the campaign, and that Vancouver Centre will see a different result next time.

"During campaigning, Hedy Fry never plays the comfortable incumbent. She is a tenacious campaigner," he said. "But when she gets to Ottawa, she tends to coast and sit on her hands."

With his political scientist hat on, Byers said an NDP government is not impossible. He pointed out the NDP's precursor the CCF, was formed during a depression, and won five straight majorities in Saskatchewan. Now that Canada is facing a period of economic uncertainty, he said, anything could happen.