Retired RCMP officer Jim Eglinski easily held on to his Yellowhead riding for the Conservatives.
Eglinski, who won the seat in a byelection last fall, finished well ahead of Liberal Ryan Maguhn, a Hinton town councillor. But Eglinski, 66, will return to Parliament as an Opposition member after the dramatic Liberal victory.
Eglinski took 72.3 per cent of the vote and Maguhn 14.2 per cent with 245 of 247 polls reporting. Trailing them was NDP’s Ken Kuzminski with nine per cent of the vote and Green Party’s Sandra Wolf Lange (2.9) and Libertarian Cory Lystang (1.6).
As with all Conservative winners on Monday, the celebration was muted by the Liberal victory.
“I’m very pleased with the numbers, but not pleased with them nationally of course,” said Eglinski, a former Fort. St. John, B.C., mayor, who now lives near Edson.
“Now we’ll just have to work as the Opposition and to do the best job I can for the people of this riding.
“It’s going to be a strong Opposition. It’s not going to easy for (the Liberals).
“They’ll have to work hard to maintain the government and we’ll be there to watch over them.”
He believes the Conservatives came up against an electorate in search of a different look in Ottawa.
“The people said they wanted change and they made change and we have to respect that in a democracy and work the best we can with them.
For Eglinski, Monday night ends almost a year of campaigning, counting his nomination and byelection races. But there is little time for rest.
“It doesn’t stop here. It’s just to keep pushing, and I’ll just push the Liberals that much harder and keep them accountable.”
Eglinski gave Justin Trudeau credit for running a good campaign, performing better than many expected.