Glenn van Dijken will ride a blue United Conservative Party wave into the Legislature with premier-elect Jason Kenney, as he easily captured the Athabasca-Barrhead-Westlock riding with roughly 70 per cent of the popular vote.
van Dijken’s victory goes hand-in-hand with the UCP’s dominance at the polls in Tuesday’s election, as the party will form a majority government winning 63 of the 87 available seats with 53 per cent of the vote. The NDP took 24 seats, 28 less than they won in their 2015 victory, with roughly 33 per cent of the vote.
Interestingly, if the results hold, this will be the first time since the 1913 provincial election that only two parties (Liberals and Conservatives) sat in the Legislature.
“It’s 28 days of going hard, but in all reality, this campaign started May 6, 2015. I think the vast majority of conservatives knew that we needed to get our house in order. We run on values we believe are going to build an Alberta that’s strong and free, and those values are essentially family values, individual freedoms, individual equality and individual responsibilit. And on those values we can all build a community together,” said van Dijken at the constituency’s volunteer appreciation event at Memorial Hall Tuesday night.
“Thank you to the voters, for sure. It’s the will of the people that’s important.”
NDP candidate Therese Taschuk secured second place, having claimed around 18 per cent of the vote, while Alberta Party candidate and R.F. Staples principal Wayne Rufiange appeared headed to a third-place finish with 9.2 per cent of the vote.
“It is what it is,” said Taschuk. “I want to congratulate my opponent on his victory tonight. While I am disappointed, I respect Albertans’ choice in this election. Our team ran a great campaign, and I want to thank all of my wonderful volunteers and supporters who believed in me and helped me to get here.”
Alberta Independence Party’s Buster Malcolm was at roughly 1.9 per cent of votes in Athabasca-Barrhead-Westlock, while Independent Brad Giroux had just over one per cent.
