What began as an orange wave Tuesday night grew to become a crushing NDP victory, both locally and province-wide.
What began as an orange wave Tuesday night grew to become a crushing NDP victory, both locally and province-wide.
In Athabasca-Sturgeon-Redwater, with all but one poll reporting, New Democrat candidate Colin Piquette was well ahead with 6,566 votes, leading incumbent Progressive Conservative Jeff Johnson who was in second place with 4,893. The Wildrose's Travis Olson was a close third with 4843.
“This is what all the polls and our door-knocking in the riding was telling us, but it was really hard for us to believe, ” said Piquette, just minutes after being declared the winner.
“Back in the 2012, we garnered about 15 per cent of the vote. I'm really honoured that so many people placed their trust in me and our party. ”
Piquette joins over 50 other NDP MLAs that will form the government when the Alberta legislature resumes sitting, something that will also make Alberta history.
Colin's father Leo was an NDP MLA for the area for one term in the late 1980s, making them one of only a few parent-child pairs ever to serve as MLAs in Alberta. One of those also includes the current NDP leader Rachel Notley, who followed her late father Grant into politics.
Speaking to a few dozen supporters gathered at the Athabasca Train Station, where they had set up to watch and eventually celebrate the results, Piquette expressed his thanks to the voters for choosing him and the NDP, as well as to his supporters and campaign team.
“The voters went for positive engagement and rejected the politics of fear. The people were simply ready for a change, ” he stated to the somewhat still stunned crowd.
“It was pretty straightforward: we were part of that orange wave. It was clear that people made up their minds that after 44 years, no amount of scare tactics were going to change that. ”
