Red Deer-Lacombe MP Blaine Calkins. (rdnewsNOW file photo)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

"a great day"

Calkins and Dreeshen react to O’Toole’s win of Conservative leadership

Aug 24, 2020 | 10:34 AM

Red Deer’s two MPs have weighed in on the election of Erin O’Toole to the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada.

O’Toole won the vote on the third ballot Sunday night after long delays reportedly caused by a machine tabulating individual paper votes.

“This is a great day for all Conservatives across our country,” said Blaine Calkins, MP for Red Deer-Lacombe.

“More than 170,000 members of the Conservative Party of Canada cast their ballot and made their voices heard. This leadership race sold more memberships and raised more money than ever before. Make no mistake, Canada’s Conservatives are stronger than ever.”

Calkins goes on to say that he was honoured to support the leadership campaign of runner-up Peter Mackay.

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“Peter has a great love for this country, and I know that he will continue to be a strong advocate for Conservatives. I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate Leslyn Lewis on her campaign,” he said.

“I look forward to working with her as a future Member of Parliament. She is bright, insightful and has some very thoughtful and constructive ideas to help build our country. Leslyn deserves a seat in the House of Commons.”

Calkins did not mention fourth leadership candidate, Derek Sloan, who was eliminated after the first ballot.

“Justin Trudeau and the Liberals are mired in allegations of corruption and are failing Canadians every single day. I know that Erin will bring us all together to defeat them in the next election,” Calkins concluded.

Red Deer-Mountain View MP Earl Dreeshen also issued a statement Monday, saying, “I would like to congratulate Erin, and all of the other leadership candidates, on a hard fought, meaningful leadership race. In particular, I am impressed seeing how well Leslyn Lewis did as an individual who can take difficult situations and capably diffuse them with calm, factual commentary. That is something that we can all hopefully learn from and build on.”

On Sunday evening’s first ballot, O’Toole received the most points in Alberta with 1,084, followed closely by Lewis at 957. MacKay earned the third most points in this province at 826, and Sloan had 532.

MacKay led after the first ballot, however, by about 650 points.

After the second ballot, O’Toole (11,903) led by roughly 150 points over MacKay who had 11,756. Lewis was not far behind at 10,140.

O’Toole came out on top in the end with 19,721 points to MacKay’s 14,528.

RIDING BREAKDOWN

Red Deer-Lacombe

1st: O’Toole (29), Lewis (28), Sloan (26), MacKay (15)

2nd: Lewis (47), O’Toole (35), MacKay (17)

3rd: O’Toole (74), MacKay (25)

Red Deer-Mountain View

1st: O’Toole (34), Lewis (30), MacKay (16)

2nd: Lewis (40.9), O’Toole (40.2), MacKay (18)

3rd: O’Toole (73), MacKay (26)