Michael Cooper has won the St. Albert-Edmonton riding by a large majority of votes.
Cooper took an early lead Monday night and continued to gain throughout the evening, with Liberal candidate Gregory Springate trailing in second place. Shortly after 9 p.m., with 73 per cent of polls reporting, Cooper had 60 per cent of the vote.
Cooper celebrated his win at the St. Albert Rugby Club with his supporters and volunteers.
“I want to thank the voters of the St. Albert-Edmonton riding for giving me their vote of confidence,” Cooper said.
Cooper walked into the crowded room to a thunder of aplause and he thanked his supporters for their tireless work over the last months and years.
“We sure didn’t take it for granted. Every single day we worked hard. We knocked on doors. We made phone calls. We connected with constituents,” Cooper said.
While Cooper’s supporters reveled in their win, they faced a disappointment on the national stage with a Liberal minority government being declared early in the night.
“Obviously the national result is a disappointment. It’s a disappointment that we are going to have a Liberal minority government,” Cooper said.
“But we are a democracy, one of the greatest democracies in the world and we must respect the result. It’s a tough pill to swallow for a lot of folks particularly in this province given what we have seen over the last four years.”
While they faced disappointment, Cooper's supporters cheered when they realized Amarjeet Sohi and Randy Boissonnault, former Liberal MPs in Edmonton, lost their seats to Conservatives.
Cooper promised that as an opposition MP he would continue to hold the government to account and work with them to find common ground but vowed to work hard in his role.
“We have a special responsibility as Alberta MPs to fight like hell.”
“We have a lot of work to do. We are going to party tonight but tomorrow I am going to roll up my sleeves to get to work.”
Cooper was first elected in 2015 by defeating incumbent Brent Rathgeber, a former Conservative MP who ran for re-election as an independent.
Cooper is the official opposition deputy shadow minister for justice and served as vice-chair of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights and vice-chair of the Special Joint Committee on Physician-Assisted Dying.
Cooper defeated Springate, People's Party of Canada candidate Brigitte Cecelia, Rob Dunbar of the Green Party, Kathleen Mpulubusi of the NDP and Robert Fraser of the Veterans Coalition Party of Canada.
