Three-peat for Storseth

Brian's back, and with more votes than ever.

Conservative candidate Brian Storseth cruised to an easy win in Westlock-St. Paul Monday night, netting around 78 per cent of the vote with all polls reporting — about five points more than he got in 2008, and about six times more than his nearest competitor. He now sets off on a third consecutive term as the member of Parliament for Sturgeon County.

This Conservative majority is a step forward for Canada, says Storseth, speaking to the St. Paul Journal at the St. Paul Golf Club on election night.

"What it shows me is that Canadians accept the job that we've been doing for the last five and a half years. They've given us the stamp of approval on our economic stimulus plan and the work we've been doing to make sure that Canada comes out of this global economic recession at the top of the world."

Storseth credited the Conservatives' "open, honest, transparent record" for his and his party's success at the polls. "It's going to be a hard job for the next four years but we need to stay focused."

He also thanked a room full of supporters for working on the campaign in a speech at the club. Storseth's electoral victory came only days after his appendix ruptured after the election forum in St. Paul on April 27. The re-elected MP says he lost four days on the campaign trail and missed a few planned events in the riding as a result.

The biggest surprise of the election was the collapse of the Bloc Québécois, he said. "I think it's great news for Canadians that we were able to get rid of a separatist entity and have stronger federalist representation across our great country."

Candidates mull options

NDP candidate Lyndsey Henderson got about 12 per cent of the vote despite running an extremely quiet campaign. She could not be reached on election night despite repeated calls. The NDP got 10 per cent of the vote in 2008.

Liberal candidate Rob Fox earned just six per cent of the vote for his party — down from nine per cent in 2008.

Fox thanked everyone for coming out to vote and congratulated Storseth on his win. "I may not agree with his vision, but the voters do, so hopefully they'll do well with him."

Fox says he had some good policies, but they didn't resonate with the voters. "The collapse of the national campaign certainly brought us crashing down."

He still believes he ran a strong campaign and notes how the riding association now has more people and money behind it than it did before the election. "I don't regret anything we did," he says. "We are still stronger than we were going into this ... as a constituency."

Fox says he wasn't sure what he would do next politically — he had to talk with his family first. "I will probably be involved in some way, but what that function is, I'm not sure." His immediate plans were clearer: "We're going on holidays!"

Green candidate Lisa Grant says she did "not bad" with about four per cent of the vote — down slightly from the seven her party got in 2008. "I'm a realist. I knew that the chance of me winning [this] riding was slim to none."

Her goal was to get the Green message out, she says, and she thinks she did so. Grant thanked all her supporters during the campaign, which she says was much busier than she'd expected. She wasn't sure whether she would run again federally. "I'm looking at possibly running provincially, but I'm not decided on that yet."

With files from the St. Paul Journal