The Battle River-Crowfoot Riding and indeed most of Alberta stayed blue, but it is floating in a sea of red.
MP Kevin Sorenson easily retained his seat in the Battle River-Crowfoot riding. As of press time, he was hovering at 80 per cent of the popular vote, with almost all polling stations reporting.
“Locally when you have served for 15 years and the constituents keep speaking as strongly as they have that they want you to keep being their representative, it is humbling and rewarding,” said Sorenson. “That is my commitment. I will continue to serve to the best of my ability and work hard and make sure the issues in Battle River-Crowfoot are heard clearly in Ottawa.“
Holding on strongly to second place was Andy Kowalski, with about 10 percent of the vote followed by Katherine Swampy of the NDP with about 6.5 per cent of the vote.
Canada wide, however it was a surprising victory for the Liberals, behind Justin Trudeau as its leader, secured a stable majority government.
“Nationally, it’s disappointing. I firmly believe in our Prime Minister and I believe in our policy and platform,” said Sorenson.
“We weren’t able to sell the importance balance budgets and the investment we have. We’ll do an inventory in the next few days and look back over the campaign and how we could have better communicated our message.”
Kowalski said in his estimation, Canadians rejected divisive politics.
“I think it was the division of the people. We as Canadians are one, and I think that resonated across Canada,” he said.
He adds that Harper’s practice of limiting media did not help.
“Keeping the media away, limiting it to five questions, and not answering during Question Period. You have to let the Canadian people know what is going on at all times,” said Kowalski. “They are the ones who vote you in, they are the one who are paying the taxes, they are your boss.”
Kowalski said he called right away to congratulate MP Sorenson and feels the area is well represented.
“I can’t say anything bad about him,“ said Kowalski. “You need a good opposition to lead a good government. I have no qualms about him.”
Swampy is proud of the campaign she ran.
“I have covered so much ground and knocked on so many doors, it was a great campaign,” she said. “ It took a lot of courage.”
She said there was a mood for changes and the Liberal party had a strong campaign.
