Prairies stay Tory blue, McLellan loses Alta. riding

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This article was published 24/01/2006 (7477 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Prairies were painted an ever deeper shade of blue Monday as a Conservative candidate beat the deputy prime minister, known in her Edmonton Centre riding as “Landslide Annie,” Alberta’s only Liberal incumbent.

After several close victories in years past — in 1993 Liberal MP Anne McLellan won her first race by just 11 votes —McLellan lost her riding to Tory opponent, Laurie Hawn, a former fighter pilot.

“Obviously, it didn’t turn out the way we wanted,” McLellan told supporters late Monday night.

“As I’ve always said, I accept the verdict of the voter. In a democracy, they are always right. I just thank them all for 12 great years.”

McLellan, a constitutional law professor, has held a variety of cabinet posts, including health, justice, natural resources and public safety and emergency preparedness.

Potential new cabinet ministers Rona Ambrose, James Rajotte and Rahim Jaffer joined Ken Epp, John Williams and Peter Goldring in what appeared to be an Edmonton-area Tory sweep. Jaffer survived a centre-left vote split among the Liberal candidate and NDP hopeful Linda Duncan, whose campaign was bolstered by a final-week riding visit from party leader Jack Layton.

“It’s so exciting to be part of a government after 8 1/2 years of being in opposition. It’s a feeling that I would never have imagined, to be able to go and be there with a strong team of MPs representing almost every region of the country,” Jaffer said.

Indeed in most of Alberta, the question wasn’t whether the Tories would win, but by how much, and early polling returns suggested massive victories for veteran MPs such as Kevin Sorenson in Crowfoot, Brian Jean in Fort McMurray-Athabasca, Leon Benoit in Vegreville-Wainwright and Rob Merrifield in Yellowhead.

The Conservatives were also expected to sweep most of Saskatchewan, although Finance Minister Ralph Goodale held onto his seat in Wascana, the Liberal party’s only seat in the province.

Ambrose told CTV Monday night the rise of power in the oil-rich West follows a strong shift of economic power to Alberta and other western provinces.

“This is something that is obviously very exciting in the West, but it’s exciting for all of Canada,” said Ambrose on CTV. “The kind of prosperity that we’ve seen in the West, and we want to see that prosperity across Canada.”

Conservative MP Vic Toews was also re-elected to his seat in the southeast corner of Manitoba while national revenue critic Brian Pallister was re-elected to his seat in southern Manitoba. In 2000, Pallister was elected to the House of Commons under the Canadian Alliance banner. It was Pallister’s access to information request that eventually prompted David Dingwall to resign as head of the Canadian Mint.

The NDP failed to make gains in Manitoba, though the party had resurrected former governor general Ed Schreyer as a star candidate in the riding of Selkirk-Interlake.

However, New DemocratFinance critic Judy Wasylycia-Leis was re-elected in her blue-collar Winnipeg North riding. The veteran MP most recently rose to prominence when she went after alleged leaks in Finance Minister Ralph Goodale’s office. She asked RCMP to investigate whether Bay Street insiders were tipped off by finance staffers concerning a decision on tax rules for income trusts.

Liberal Reg Alcock lost his seat in Winnipeg to Conservative Rod Bruinooge. The Treasury Board president, who was responsible for the government’s plan to clean up government, was caught in the middle of the Royal Canadian Mint controversy when he defended former president David Dingwall’s salary and expenses that totalled $1 million last year.

Also in Alberta, Conservative deputy House leader Jason Kenney was re-elected to his Calgary seat.

In Saskatoon-Rosetown-Biggar, Tory Carol Skelton kept her seat, while fellow Conservative Steven Fletcher took the Manitoba seat of Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia . Also in Manitoba, NDP stalwart Bill Blaikie held onto Elmwood-Transcona.

— CanWest News Service