The re-elected Blaine Calkins gives a thumbs up outside his campaign office on election night. (rdnewsNOW/Jordan Davidson)

By Jordan Davidson (Twitter: @JordanDHeyNow)

the winner is...

Red Deer-Lacombe’s Blaine Calkins wins 6th term

Sep 20, 2021 | 10:55 PM

Votes are still being counted, but Conservative candidate Blaine Calkins is projected to once again be re-elected as Member of Parliament for Red Deer-Lacombe.

Calkins, 52, was first elected in 2006 as Member of Parliament for the former federal riding of Wetaskiwin. This is the third time he has been voted to represent Red Deer-Lacombe since the electoral map was redrawn prior to the 2015 election, and his sixth election win overall.

Speaking outside his election campaign headquarters Monday evening, Calkins talked about how this election should have been about Canada’s economic recovery coming out of COVID-19. He pointed out how the results are, “almost identical in the number of seats and percentages of votes” as seen in 2019.

“I’m very disappointed on behalf of the constituents here whose economic livelihood and their hope and faith in government has been dashed in the last six years of federal Liberal policies, particularly those in the oil and gas sector,” he said. “But I remain committed to going to Ottawa and fighting for good paying jobs, fighting for Alberta’s place in confederation, and getting us out of COVID-19.”

He also noted that many Canadians are angry and frustrated right now, and for a variety of reasons.

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“There seems to be a lot of people mad at Justin Trudeau and Jason Kenney but somehow blaming Erin O’Toole, and I don’t think that’s necessarily fair. It’s a fact that there are a lot of people who are angry and frustrated; I’m angry and frustrated … with the federal government and their policies and what they’ve done to the economy here in central Alberta,” he said. “There is a lot of frustration generally with us going through COVID-19. I don’t know anybody that’s having a good time.”

Calkins says while results are overwhelmingly positive locally, this election does have a different tone than the last.

“There was a lot of conflation with provincial issues, for example business lockdowns, face masks and those kinds of things. We’ve seen a generally angry and impatient portion of our population with those frustrations,” said Calkins. “Our business community, particularly hospitality and tourism, have been suffering immensely due to the lockdowns and restrictions. But we also see the rise in numbers and increase in deaths here in Alberta and things are very difficult for our healthcare workers right now.”

Getting through COVID-19 and getting our economy back to pre-pandemic times, he reiterated, are two of his top priorities on the home front.

“I want to focus on jobs, growth, and getting our economy back on track, getting our businesses back on track, people getting back to as normal as possible to what life looked like before COVID-19,” he remarked. “There’s young people in my family that haven’t even had their high school graduation from two years ago. We’re basically back in that holding pattern and it’s frustrating.”

Calkins promised to stand up for lawful firearm owners across Canada.

“Going after law-abiding citizens who own firearms is going to do nothing to curb gang violence in major downtown urban centres. I’m compassionate to the issues they are facing, but at the same time, we should try to find solutions that are actually meaningful and beneficial.”

Calkins plans to continue dealing with issues involving rural crime, as well as speaking with the community of Maskwacis to deal with issues regarding their drinking water.

In 2019, Calkins took 79.8 per cent of the vote, up from his 70.7 per cent in 2015. His highest though was 81.4 per cent in 2011. With 240 of 270 polls reporting, Calkins is trending towards 64 per cent this go-round.

Elsewhere, Conservative Earl Dreeshen was re-elected in Red Deer-Mountain View, Conservative Damien Kurek will be re-elected in Battle River-Crowfoot, and Conservative Gerald Soroka will be re-elected in the riding of Yellowhead.

More federal election coverage is on our dedicated election page.