Alberta goes back to blue

Posted on: Staff Writer

From edition: April 19 2019 Strathmore Times

By Mario Prusina Times Editor

United Conservative Party deputy leader Leela Aheer was elected as MLA of the Chestermere-Strathmore riding on April 16. Aheer (l-r) and her husband Malkeet were on hand at the Strathmore Legion to celebrate the win, before heading to the UCP Party Headquarters in Calgary to celebrate with newly-elected premier Jason Kenney. Mario Prusina Photo.

United Conservative Party deputy leader Leela Aheer was elected as MLA of the Chestermere-Strathmore riding on April 16. Aheer (l-r) and her husband Malkeet were on hand at the Strathmore Legion to celebrate the win, before heading to the UCP Party Headquarters in Calgary to celebrate with newly-elected premier Jason Kenney.
Mario Prusina Photo.
Less than 45 minutes after the polls closed, there was a huge cheer at the United Conservative Party (UCP) campaign celebration at the Strathmore Legion on April 16.
Leela Sharon Aheer was elected as the MLA for the new riding of Chestermere-Strathmore, taking 67.4 per cent of the unofficial votes.
The unofficial results (80 of the 82 polls), as of April 17, had Aheer and the UCP’s collecting 13,808 votes followed by Melissa Langmaid (NDP) in a distant second with 3,352 votes and former Strathmore-Brooks MLA Derek Fildebrandt (FCP) with 1,587. Jason Avramenko (Alberta Party) collected 1,294 votes, followed by Sharon Howe (Liberal) with 211, Roger Walker (Alberta Independence Party) with 126 and Terry Nicholls (Independent) with 104 votes.
The former Strathmore-Brooks constituency broke Wheatland County into four new ridings, including the aforementioned Chestermere-Strathmore. The other three ridings in the county include Cardston-Siksika, Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills and a small portion of Airdire-East. The results were the same in those ridings, with UCP dominating.
Joseph Schow (UCP) claimed 11,321 votes, or 73.6 per cent of the unofficial results in Cardston-Siksika. Kirby Smith (NDP) had 2,454 votes, while Ian Donovan (Independent) claimed 702 votes. Casey Douglas (Alberta Party) 555, Jerry Gautreau (FCP) 191 and Cathleen McFarland (Liberal) 166 rounded out the voting.
Nathan Cooper (UCP) dominated, collecting 19,104 votes, or 78.8 per cent of the unofficial results in Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills. The remaining candidates went as follows; Kyle Johnson (NDP) 2,824 votes, Chase Brown (Alberta Party) 1,630 votes, Allen MacLennan (FCP) 519 votes and Dave Hughes (AAP) 179.
Angela Pitt (UCP) claimed 13,947 votes, or 67.3 per cent of the unofficial results in Airdrie-East. The remaining candidates went as follows; Roxie Baez Zamora (NDP) 4,137 votes, Alex Luterbach (Alberta Party) 1,960 votes, Rick Northey (FCP) 387 votes, Jeff Olson (Alberta Independence Party) 189 votes and Richard Douglas Absalom Herdman (Independent) 95 votes.
After four years in power, the NDP only collected 24 seats in the 2019 Alberta Election, while Jason Kenney and the UCP claimed the remaining 63 seats.