Progressive Conservative Party of Canada candidate Chris Warkentin emerged as the victor in last week’s federal election race for the Peace River riding. Warkentin, who spent the night of the election at the Quality Inn & Conference Centre in Grande Prairie, addressed a group of more than 350 supporters shortly before 8:30 p.m. The incumbent MP achieved the lion’s share of public support in the election. It came in the form of 69.4 per cent of the overall vote (29,288 votes).

Tory blue was once again the preferred party colour of choice among constituents in the Peace River riding during last Tuesday’s federal election as incumbent Conservative MP Chris Warkentin cruised to a lop-sided victory. “I’m both humbled and honoured by the tremendous support we received from voters in the riding,” says Warkentin, who gathered with party supporters at the Quality Inn & Conference Centre on the night of the election to watch everything unfold. Warkentin’s victory as Member of Parliament for Peace River became obvious just before 8:30 p.m. “By that time we knew we’d taken it,” says Warkentin, who formally acknowledged his campaign team for their hard work prior to thanking the 350 or so supporters on hand. “I’m extremely thankful to the residents of the Peace Country for giving me the opportunity to continue representing them as MP in the House of Commons,” he said. On a national scale, the Peace River MP says the results of the election represent a clear reflection of Canadians’ faith and trust in a Progressive Conservative government. “To me it indicates that what we’re doing, both locally and nationally as a party, is meeting the satisfaction of constituents and Canadians,” Warkentin explains. The breakdown of voting in the Peace River riding saw Warkentin achieve the lion’s share of public support in the form of 69.4 per cent of the overall vote (29,288 votes). That figure represents an increase of more than 13 per cent from the last federal election in 2006 when the rookie Conservative MP candidate cruised to victory with 56.4 per cent of the popular vote. Finishing second overall in the balloting process in Peace River was Adele Boucher Rymhs with 6,105 votes or 14.5 per cent (up from 5,569 votes in 2006). She was followed by Jennifer Villebrun of the Green Party with 3,295 votes or 7.8 per cent (up from 1,096 in 2006) and Liliane Maisonneuve of the Liberal Party of Canada who finished with 2,833 votes or 6.7 per cent (down from 4,573 in 2006). Edwin Siggletow of the Canadian Action Party and Melanie Simard of the Libertarian Party of Canada finished in the last two spots with 374 and 315 votes respectively. Nationally, the Conservatives entered this election campaign having managed the longest, uninterrupted parliamentary minority in federal history. It was also numerically the weakest, with the opposition Liberals, New Democrats and Bloc Quebecois holding almost 60 per cent of the 308 seats in the Commons. In the end they came out of the election with 143 seats, up from 124 in 2006 and just 12 seats shy of forming a majority government. What the Progressive Conservative Party gained in terms of popularity other parties lost. That includes the Liberal Party of Canada which lost significant ground in the form of public confidence after picking up 76 seats – down from the 95 they had when the vote was called. It was the lowest Liberal tally since the 40 seats they captured in 1984. Finishing third overall was the Bloc Quebecois with 50 seats while the New Democratic Party was fourth with 37 seats. The final two seats went to the Independent Party, leaving the Green Party empty-handed.