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Conservative victories in St. Albert and Sturgeon River-Parkland

Cooper and Lloyd earn their seats back in Conservative wave that swept the province

St. Albert-Edmonton's Michael Cooper and Sturgeon River-Parkland's Dane Lloyd will both return to Parliament to represent their ridings for another term.

Cooper won the St. Albert-Edmonton riding by more than 60 per cent of votes, according to the unofficial count by Elections Canada. Cooper took an early lead Monday night and continued to gain throughout the evening, with Liberal candidate Gregory Springate trailing in second place.

Cooper celebrated his win at the St. Albert Rugby Club with his supporters and volunteers.

“I want to thank the voters of the St. Albert-Edmonton riding for giving me their vote of confidence,” he said.

Cooper racked up 60.8 per cent of the votes (38,807 votes), followed by Springate who earned 19.1 per cent (12,224 votes). Kathleen Mpulubusi finished in third place for the NDP with 15.1 per cent (9,655 votes) and Rob Dunbar earned a fourth-place finish for the Greens with 2.4 per cent or 1,548 votes. Brigitte Cecelia of the People’s Party of Canada finished in fifth place with two per cent of the vote (1,274 votes) and Robert Fraser of the Veteran’s Coalition Party of Canada finished in sixth place with 0.5 per cent of the vote (342 votes).

Cooper walked into the crowded room to a thunder of applause and thanked his supporters for their tireless work over the last months and years.

“We sure didn’t take it for granted. Every single day, we worked hard. We knocked on doors. We made phone calls. We connected with constituents,” Cooper said.

While Cooper’s supporters revelled in their win, they faced a disappointment on the national stage with a Liberal minority government being declared early in the night.

“Obviously the national result is a disappointment. It’s a disappointment that we are going to have a Liberal minority government,” Cooper said, adding it is important to respect democracy and the final vote across the country.

Overall, Cooper said he felt Alberta sent a message to Ottawa and Justin Trudeau by voting in Conservative politicians in all but one provincial riding.

Cooper promised that as an opposition MP he would continue to hold the government to account and work with them to find common ground. He vowed to work hard in his role.

“We have a special responsibility as Alberta MPs to fight like hell.”

“We have a lot of work to do. We are going to party tonight, but tomorrow I am going to roll up my sleeves to get to work.”

Cooper said the biggest issue right now is jobs and the economy. The MP also hopes the government will take up his private member's bill for jury support as one of its own government bills.

Cooper was first elected in 2015 by defeating incumbent Brent Rathgeber, a former Conservative MP who ran for re-election as an independent.

In his last term, Cooper was the official opposition deputy shadow minister for justice and served as vice-chair of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights and vice-chair of the Special Joint Committee on Physician-Assisted Dying.

Cooper’s supporters were elated with his win, cheering every time his results appeared on the television.

Mike Ilesic, a first-time volunteer on Cooper’s campaign, said he had a great time working on the campaign with the MP and he was really happy to see Cooper win.

“He seems to work for the people and the issues that are important to a lot of people,” Ilesic said.

Darlene Swabb helped out on Cooper’s campaign as a scrutineer and said Cooper “did great” over the last four years.

Swabb was particularly impressed with Cooper’s performance on the justice committee when dealing with the SNC-Lavalin scandal and holding the government to account.

Patricia Magliocco worked on Cooper’s campaign said she was feeling “elated” after the win.

“He does a great job and he’s very committed to the constituency and we know he will work hard for all of us,” Magliocco said.

Rod Lumabi got involved with Cooper’s campaign during the 2015 election when he knocked on his door. Lumabi had been a member of the Conservative party for years and said it was “excellent” to see Cooper score the victory.

“We knew that Michael was going to win but we didn’t want to take it for granted.”

Conservative victory in Sturgeon River-Parkland

Dane Lloyd of the Conservative Party beat his competitors in the race for Sturgeon River-Parkland with a resounding 77.6 per cent of the vote.

Lloyd, who won his seat two years ago in a byelection, earned a whopping 52,163 votes Monday night.

Lloyd said it was a relief to win the race, as he didn’t want to take anything for granted during the campaign. He added he was humbled by the support he got in his riding.

“I'm really pleased with what we got here,” Lloyd said, adding it was disappointing to see the party underperform in Quebec and Ontario.

“I don't have the time to kind of sit back and wallow in those feelings. I have to look at, how do I use the situation that we are in, the reality, to put forward the priorities of the people that I represent.”

Lloyd said a minority government could be a good opportunity to get McCann’s Law passed, a bill he has been advocating for since he came to office.

McCann’s Law is a law named for the late Lyle and Marie McCann and would require convicted killers to disclose the locations of the remains of their victims or face consequences. The bill aims to impose consequences at sentencing, parole eligibility and conditional release applications if the location of the remains are not disclosed.

The NDP candidate in the riding, Guy Desforges, earned second place with 10.1 per cent (6,794 votes) and Ronald Brochu of the Liberal Party came in third with 6.8 per cent (4,590 votes). Cass Romyn of the Green Party earned 2.5 per cent (1,686 votes). The People’s Party of Canada candidate Tyler Beauchamp earned 2.3 per cent (1,577 votes) and Ernest Chauvet of the Christian Heritage Party finished in sixth place with 0.6 per cent (421 votes).


Jennifer Henderson

About the Author: Jennifer Henderson

Jennifer Henderson is the editor of the St. Albert Gazette and has been with Great West Media since 2015
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