Burton Bailey has been elected as Member of Parliament for the new Red Deer riding.
The Conservative Party of Canada candidate won the riding in decisive fashion on Monday, April 28. With 113 of 187 polls reporting, Bailey collected 25,894 of 37,687 (71.8 per cent). He defeated Ayaz Bangash (Liberal), Elias Assefa (NDP), Kyla Courte (PPC), Ashley MacDonald (Green) and Brandon Pringle (Christian Heritage Party) to win the riding.
"I'm very humbled by the support," said Bailey on Monday evening.
"It was really exhilarating to win the Red Deer riding. ... The campaign was very well run. I had an excellent team of very knowledgeable people. Things went extremely well for us."
Bailey gathered with family, friends and supporters at his campaign office on election night.
"I look forward to being a very strong voice ... advocating for affordability for Red Deer," Bailey said.
"Whether it's housing, whether it be carbon tax, we just need things to be more affordable."
While the Conservatives had a strong showing locally, Black Press Media projects a national Liberal victory, with party leader Mark Carney becoming the country's new prime minister. As of 11 p.m. on Monday, it remains unclear if it will be a Liberal majority or minority government.
"No matter where you live, no matter what language you speak, no matter how you voted, I will always do my best to represent everyone who calls Canada home," Carney said in a speech around 11:30 a.m MST.
"Our old relationship with the United States — a relationship based on steadily increasing integration — is over. The system of open global trade anchored by the United States — a system that Canada has relied on since the Second World War, a system that, while not perfect, has delivered prosperity for our country for decades — is over. These are tragedies, but it's also our new reality. We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons. We have to look out for ourselves, and above all, we have to take care of each other."
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre congratulated Carney in a speech Monday evening. Despite the federal electoral defeat, Poilievre said the party had reasons to celebrate on Monday evening.
"We've gained well over 20 seats. We got the highest share of votes our party has received since 1988. We denied the NDP and Liberals enough seats to form a coalition government. And we did all this in a very difficult environment," said Poilievre.
"That said, we are cognizant of the fact that we didn't get quite over the finish line yet. We know that change is needed, but change is hard to come by. It takes time, it takes work. That's why we have to learn the lessons of tonight, so we can have an even better result the next time Canadians decide the future for the country."
Jagmeet Singh announced he will resign as NDP leader.
