By rdnewsNOW staff

#ELXN43

Calkins re-elected in Red Deer-Lacombe

Oct 21, 2019 | 2:31 PM

Conservative candidate Blaine Calkins has been re-elected as Member of Parliament for Red Deer-Lacombe.

With 255 of 255 polls reporting:
Blaine Calkins – CON 52,684
Lauren Pezzella – NDP 5,888
Tiffany Rose – LIB 3,437
Laura Lynn Thompson – PPC 2,408
Sarah Palmer – GRN 1,533

Calkins, who is 50, was first elected in 2006 as Member of Parliament for the former federal riding of Wetaskiwin. This is the second time he has been voted to represent Red Deer-Lacombe since the electoral map was redrawn prior to the 2015 election.

Calkins acknowledged that it was a team effort in helping him succeed in re-election.

“I want to thank my entire team, my campaign manager, all of my senior campaign staff, all of the volunteers that came out, all of the donors that donated to the campaign,” said Calkins. “And of course, all of the voters who came out today and exercised their democratic right and sent a clear message and sent me apparently back to Ottawa with a very, very strong mandate to hold Justin Trudeau to account.”

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Though happy and humbled to be re-elected, Calkins admits a Liberal government isn’t what many Albertans were hoping for.

“But it’s not the worst-case scenario,” says Calkins. “Justin Trudeau no longer has the ability to unilaterally do whatever he wants in this country. Canadians have spoken and they said that he needs to start listening to other parts of the country and that includes Alberta.”

Calkins noted the election results show Conservative support is growing.

“Our numbers, we started off with less than 100 (95), and we’re going to be well over 100 when we go back to Ottawa,” says Calkins. “We’re going to have a stronger voice, we’re going to have a stronger say on behalf of the Canadians we represent and we’re going to be holding Justin Trudeau to account. I fully expect Canadians will be back at the polls very, very soon because his ability to govern with a majority was abysmal and his ability to govern with a minority shouldn’t take very long for us to be back at the polls.”

Calkins says a strong contingent of Conservative MPs from Alberta will now be making make their way to Ottawa to stand up for jobs, economic prosperity, growth and being treated as full and equal partners in Canadian Confederation.

“We’re not going to be obstacles in the way of pipeline developments,” exclaims Calkins. “So if he’s (Justin Trudeau) got any issues that he needs to get resolved in the House of Commons, as long as he does so in a respectful and timely fashion, Albertans have waited long enough to get a pipeline and get some equipment in the ground to get this pipeline built.”

Calkins says the economic damage done by the Trudeau government is responsible for over 130,000 direct jobs in Alberta’s energy sector.

“These are good paying jobs, not just for Albertans but for people across this country,” he exclaims. “The billions of dollars of tax revenue that’s lost by killing the growth and economic opportunity that this province contributes every year to this Confederation, these are things that we as Albertans are going to be talking about.”

“My primary responsibility is to stand up for the most lucrative resource sector that we have which is the energy sector, and make sure our agricultural products have market access, concludes Calkins. “We need to get Alberta firing on all cylinders again. A strong Alberta is a strong Canada.”

Liberal candidate Tiffany Rose offered her congratulations to Calkins for his victory.

“I think this campaign has shown him there are strong progressive voters in his riding and he has a responsibility to represent them. I’m really proud of the campaign I ran and what I stood for,” Rose shared.

She added, “I am absolutely thrilled to see Justin Trudeau will be our prime minister again. I think the Liberals and the NDP can absolutely work together. It remains to be seen (on TMX), but in order for them to work together, there will need to be compromise on both sides.”