PCs win provincial election
- Details
- Published on Wednesday, April 20, 2016
Eileen Clarke at her campaign headquaters in Gladstone on Tuesday, Apr. 19. Photo property of Alan Gillies GEM Media
By Banner Staff
The Neepawa Banner/Neepawa Press
A wave of blue swept across 水果视频 on April 19, with Brian Pallister鈥檚 Progressive Conservative Party taking 40 of the province鈥檚 57 seats in the Legislature, to form government. The NDP, which held 37 seats going into the provincial election came out with just 14 seats. Following the NDP鈥檚 defeat, Greg Selinger announced his resignation as party leader. Within the Banner鈥檚 coverage area, two first-time MLAs were elected to their seats.
In the Agassiz Constituency, PC Party candidate Eileen Clarke won the seat with 5,199 votes, representing about 75 per cent of the ballots cast in the riding. Independent candidate Damian Dempsey finished second with 901 votes, NDP candidate Courtney Lucas received 441 votes and Robert F. Smith received 404 votes.
Clarke said that she was 鈥渢hrilled, honoured and humbled鈥� by the number of people who supported her at the polls. Despite the constituency generally electing a PC candidate, Clarke said that she wanted to get out and meet people across the riding. 鈥淚 lot of people know me, but a lot don鈥檛鈥� she said, adding, 鈥淚 wanted them to know who they are voting for, to know my commitment to them, the people of Agassiz.鈥�
Each day after campaigning, Clarke said she was excited about the people she met and ideas she learned about from those in the constituency. This also included 14 community coffee meetings, where she sat and talked to constituents.
The NDP had been in power since 1999 and and talking about the change in government, Clarke said, 鈥淧eople wanted something to renew their hope,鈥� adding, 鈥淭hey鈥檝e given the Conservatives a strong mandate, now it鈥檚 up to us.鈥�
In the Riding Mountain constituency, PC candidate Greg Nesbitt won his seat with 5,299 votes or approximately 69 per cent of the ballots cast. 鈥淚鈥檓 humbled by the support鈥鈥檓 very appreciative,鈥� he said, adding, 鈥淲hen you run a campaign, you hope your message resonates with people鈥�. Nesbitt said he looks forward to working for the people of Riding Mountain.
After 17 years of the area being represented by an opposition MLA, Nesbitt is especially looking forward to being able to work as a member of government. He said that they can now fix problems which should have been fixed years ago.
Nesbitt described what it was like to watch the results come in. 鈥淚鈥檝e been watching election coverage for 40 years, it was surreal to see myself on TV,鈥� he said.
Nesbitt said that in the next few days following the election, all of the newly elected MLAs would be receiving a call from the party leader and Premier-designate Brian Pallister about the next steps.
For Nesbitt, health care is his number one priority, which is also one shared by the party. The loss of doctors, nurses and medical services effects everyone in a community he noted.
As for the party, Nesbitt said, 鈥淚鈥檓 so proud of the campaign the PC [Party] ran,鈥� added that he鈥檚 also proud of how the leader conducted himself both during the campaign and in his victory speech.
Across the province, 58.79 per cent of eligible voters cast their ballot.
The Student Vote took place on April 18 and showed similar results. 水果视频 youth elected the PC party in 30 constituencies, the NDP in 12, the Liberals in 11 and the Green Party in 2 constituencies.
In Agassiz, nine schools took part, with PC candidate Eileen Clarke taking 235 votes, for 56 per cent of the ballots cast. In the Riding Mountain constituency, Liberal Candidate Jordan Fleury won by a small margin, taking 127 votes for 38.37 per cent of the vote. In second was PC party candidate Greg Nesbitt, who was elected MLA, with 106 votes.
These results have no impact on the official result, as the students are under 18 years of age, but help sent the foundation for active citizenship among 水果视频 youth.
