Red Deer-Mountain View MP Earl Dreeshen, elected for a fifth time Monday, stands in front of his polling station. (@Earl_Dreeshen on Twitter)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

results are in

Earl Dreeshen takes Red Deer-Mountain View for 5th term

Sep 20, 2021 | 9:48 PM

Results remain unofficial, but Earl Dreeshen is projected to win a fifth term as Member of Parliament, representing the riding of Red Deer-Mountain View.

Dreeshen will once again be a member of the Opposition Conservatives after Justin Trudeau and the Liberals won a minority government Monday.

“With the mood of the country, I thought more would take this opportunity to voice their displeasure with the prime minister, but that wasn’t the case. There isn’t going to be much difference from where we were,” he told rdnewsNOW after results began pouring in Monday evening.

“Trudeau will say the people have spoken, but he won’t get away with it in a minority situation. We’ll continue to hold his feet to the fire. There are a lot of questions we need answers for.”

He says that includes with respect to an investigation into the goings-on at Winnipeg’s National Microbiology Laboratory. Dreeshen also notes military issues and the status of some of Canada’s partnerships with international groups.

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One positive the 68-year-old Red Deer-native sees is a new draw for private members’ bills, for which he’ll look to constituents to come up with something to propose in the House of Commons, should he get the chance.

Dreeshen saw his Bill C-444 passed in 2014, which established penalties for impersonating a police officer.

“One of the issues we saw in the last election, because of protest votes that Maxime Bernier’s party took from the Conservatives, we lost probably 15 to 20 seats, and we’ll see what the numbers show this time,” Dreeshen continued. “Certainly they have their message and I respect their opportunity to present it, but Bernier is not effective and it’s time we start talking about things that bring us together rather than separate us.”

Bernier didn’t win in his own riding Monday, but a trend Monday sees many People’s Party candidates taking third place in their respective ridings, at least in central Alberta.

As for how coming together will work, Dreeshen says it’s critical to recognize with whom we’re butting heads.

“We need to understand these folks are our friends and neighbours. We have to calm each other’s fears and work together,” he says.

“The last 18 months have been very hard on the mental health of individuals and families, on the economic health of many small businesses, and they’re finding it difficult to find a voice. Any time there’s a problem, emotions flare, and that’s what we’re left to deal with instead of the root problems.”

Concludes Dreeshen: “I know we can do it. We are a caring society.”

In the 2019 election, Dreeshen won 54,765 (80.2%) of the 68,447 votes cast. His closest competitor with the NDP earned just under 5,000 votes.

Elsewhere Monday, Conservative Blaine Calkins is projected to be re-elected in Red Deer-Lacombe, while the same can be said for Conservative Damien Kurek in Battle River-Crowfoot, and Conservative Gerald Soroka in the riding of Yellowhead.

Results as they come in, as well as other election coverage, can be viewed in the election tracker on our dedicated page.