About the same number of St. Albertans took to the polls this year for the 44th general federal election.
Data from Elections Canada shows 62,678 people voted this year in the St. Albert-Edmonton riding compared to the 65,427 people who voted in 2019, which is a difference of 3,087.
Of those votes, there were 338 rejected ballots. In 2019, there were 336 rejected ballots in the St. Albert-Edmonton riding.
Elections Canada media representative Mathew McKenna said in an email they were still doubling checking numbers for mail-in ballots and overall voter information and those numbers were not available in time for publication. However, he said those numbers would be available late Tuesday afternoon, but as of Wednesday those numbers had not yet been updated.
Validated results from Elections Canada show Conservative MP Michael Cooper garnered 29,652 votes this election, nearly 10,000 less than the 39,506 votes he received in 2019.
NDP candidate Kathleen Mpulubusi saw her votes increase by nearly 8,000. Validated results show she received 17,816 votes this year compared to 9,895 votes in 2019.
Liberal candidate Greg Springate’s support held steady in the riding. Data from Elections Canada shows he received 11,188 votes this year compared to 12,477 in the last election.
People’s Party of Canada candidate Brigitte Cecelia saw support for her party bloom at 3,604 votes compared to the 1,268 votes she received in 2019.
Alberta was not the wash of blue it was in the 43rd general election.
Validated results from Elections Canada show the Liberal Party of Canada and the New Democratic Party each snagged two seats in the province.
Liberal Randy Boissonnault squeaked by Conservative James Cumming by 615 votes. Boissonnault received 16,560 votes at 33.7 per cent, whereas Cumming received 15,945 at 32.4 per cent.
NDP Blake Desjarlais became Canada’s first openly Two Spirit MP. Desjarlais won the Edmonton Griesbach riding by 1,500 votes at 40.5 per cent or 17,457 votes against Conservative Kerry Diotte. Diotte received 15,957 votes or 37.1 per cent of the vote.
Calgary Skyview saw Liberal George Chahal win a seat in Parliament against Conservative Jag Sahota. The riding was won by 2,981 votes. Chahal received 20,092 votes or 42.4 per cent and Sahota received 17,111 votes or 36.1 per cent.
Validated Elections Canada data shows that 62.24 per cent or 17,033,208 of the 27,366,297 people who were registered to vote turned up to the polls. This number does not include people who registered the day of the election.
Voter turnout for Alberta was slightly higher than the national at 64.57 per cent — 1,942,539 of the 3,006,753 registered voters took part in this election. This number does not include people who registered the day of the election.
Justin Trudeau’s Liberal party took home a minority government with an extra two seats. Validated numbers from Elections Canada show they won 159 seats at 47 per cent. The party received 32.6 per cent of the vote.
The Conservative Party of Canada lost two seats this election. In 2019, they formed the official opposition at 121 seats. The CPC is still holding the position of the official opposition at 119 seats. They received 33.7 per cent of the vote.
The New Democratic Party gained one seat this election. In 2019, the party held 24 seats. This election the NDP have 25 seats and 17.8 per cent of the vote.
The NDP placed fourth in this election. At 33 seats, the Bloc Québécois has more power in Parliament, but the Bloc, which only runs candidates in Quebec, received only 7.6 per cent of the vote.
