Arnold Viersen has reclaimed his seat as a Member of Parliament and will return to Ottawa to represent the Peace River-Westlock riding.
The incumbent Conservative MP didn’t have any trouble defeating his competitors in the Oct. 21 federal election, with voters giving the Neerlandia native a healthy second mandate with 80.8 per cent of the vote with 227 of 228 polls reporting Oct. 25.
NDP candidate Jennifer Villebrun was in second with 7.5 per cent; Liberal Leslie Penny had 6.0 per cent; People’s Party’s John Schrader came in with 3.1 per cent and the Green Party’s Peter Nygaard with 2.6 per cent.
Nationally, Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party will form a minority government and Liberal candidates were elected in 157 riding out 338 available seats.
Andrew Scheer’s Conservative Party had 121. The Bloc Quebecois had 32 seats; the NDP had 24, the Greens had three, with former Liberal justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, who was at the centre of the SNC-Lavalin controversy that dogged Trudeau and the Liberals for the last year, winning her Vancouver-Granville riding as an independent candidate. The Bloc were the only party to increase their seat total over 2015, besides the Greens who went fro one to three.
With more than 98 per cent of polls reporting, Elections Canada reported a voter turnout of just under 66 per cent of eligible voters casting their ballots — that amounts to 17.9 million Canadians out of more than 27 million. More voters than ever also cast their ballots in advance — 4.7 million — up 29 per cent from the 2015 election.
“It looks like we were successful in Peace River-Westlock,” Viersen told an assembled crowd of supporters at the Barrhead Legion, soon after it became apparent he would remain MP for Peace River-Westlock.
“I thank my wife for standing with me through this. She always says I’m not the man she married. To some degree that is true, there wasn’t a political bone in my body when we got married but two-and-a-half years later I was running for office ... The election results were not what we were hoping for.
“We were hoping for a strong, stable, majority government and that’s not what we have received this evening. So we will be back as a minority, most likely for the Liberals.”
Trudeau won his Montreal-Papineau riding in Quebec, while Scheer won his Saskatchewan riding of Regina-Qu’Appelle. Green Party leader Elizabeth May won her Saanich–Gulf Islands riding in B.C., and NDP leader Jagmeet Singh won in Burnaby South in B.C. as well.
Bloc Quebecois leader Yves-François Blanchet won in Beloeil-Chambly in Quebec while People’s Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier lost his Beauce, Quebec riding, the only major party leader to lose his own riding.
Viersen said he and the Conservatives will continue to support the fight to get pipelines built in Canada and getting rid of the Liberal carbon tax.
“With or without government our voices will not be diminished,” he said.
All but one of Alberta’s 34 federal ridings went blue as well, with the NDP stronghold of Edmonton-Strathcona remaining orange, with Heather McPherson taking 46.9 per cent of the votes and Conservative candidate Sam Lilly taking 38 per cent. McPherson took over from long-time NDP MP Linda Duncan who retired after representing the riding since 2008.
In the neighbouring riding of Lakeland, incumbent Conservative MP Shannon Stubbs won handily with 83.3 per cent of the vote. In Fort McMurray-Cold Lake Conservative incumbent David Yurdiga took 78.5 per cent of the vote, while Conservative incumbent Chris Warkentin won 83.4 per cent of the vote.
In Yellowhead, Conservative Gerald Soroka won 81.4 per cent and in Sturgeon River-Parkland incumbent Conservative Dane Lloyd earned 77.2 per cent.
NDP candidates in the above ridings placed second, all with less than 10 per cent of the vote.
“I look forward to representing the people of Northern Alberta and continuing to fight for forestry and farming that happens up here, said Viersen. “We will continue to fight for our way of life and continue to enjoy the freedoms that we do enjoy in Canada and try to get the economy rolling one way or another.”
Viersen said that while he recognized that minority governments are “notoriously unpredictable,” he will continue to stand by Conservative leader Scheer.
“Given the other options we had, he was the best option we had and I look forward to rallying the base and look forward to getting a strong Conservative government when the time comes,” he said.
The Viersen camp managed to garner 41,159 votes, while Villebrun, with the NDP, got 3,805. Liberal Penny received 3.506, and Schrader with the People’s Party got 1,569, while Nygaard and the Greens got 1,350.
“I want to thank all the people who worked tirelessly on my campaign, as well as my fellow candidates for being willing to put themselves forward to represent this riding. While I’m disappointed that I will not be the MP in this sitting of the house, I am incredibly thankful for all of the people who voted for me and I will endeavour to still act as an advocate for them,” said Villebrun.
Penny, who is a sitting Town of Barrhead Coun., congratulated Viersen on his victory.
“I know Albertans are angry, but I’m not sure what people expect to change, especially in a Liberal minority government,” she said. “Until we start electing some Liberal MPs in Alberta, I don’t know how our voice is going to be heard.”
She said regardless of which party forms government the prairies need to elect Liberal MPs, noting the provinces are practically guaranteed to have Conservative Party representatives.
“That means regardless of who wins Alberta’s voice will be heard,” Penny said, noting as the 2019 election show’s the opposite isn’t necessarily the case.
“We have a Liberal government, we own the [Trans Mountain] pipeline and they will have to get along with the NDP who say no pipeline,” she said. “I’m not sure how it is all going to shake out but it’s not going to be good for Alberta.”
The People’s Party of Canada also ran a candidate in the riding, with Schrader, whop a Westlock-area rancher, entering the fray early on in the campaign.
“Canadians voted overwhelmingly Oct. 21 to return the same government we have had the last four years. I phoned Arnold Viersen and congratulated him on his resounding re-election, with 81 per cent of all the votes in the Peace River-Westlock district. I can only hope his Conservative Party will reverse course on Liberal appeasement and stand up with a loud voice to defend the interests of Albertans’ who are hurting,” said Schrader.
“By your vast majority of votes, Canadians have rejected limited government and clearly told liberty-minded individuals that we do not belong in your federal government at all. I am heartbroken and fear for the future of my children in this increasingly socialist country.”
Nygaard also lauded Viersen on his campaign and victory.
“I wonder if there will ever be anything but a Conservative MP here?” he asked.
“I would also like to thank Leslie Penny and John Schrader for taking such an active part in their campaigns.
“Last but not least I would like to thank everyone who supported me throughout the election and thank you to everyone who took the time to listen to what the candidates had to say.
