Ted Menzies was re-elected as Member of Parliament for the Macleod riding during the federal election on Monday, May 2nd, taking home 77 per cent of the popular vote.
“I am honoured and humbled to be re-elected,” Menzies said in an interview with the Pass Herald.
In total, 40,008 voters cast their ballot for the Conservative incumbent candidate, nearly eight times as many as voted for NDP candidate Janine Giles, who came in second with 5,334 votes, or 10 per cent.
This trend was echoed all across the country, with 167 of the 308 electoral constituencies voting predominantly Conservative.
“Things worked out well all across the country,” said Menzies of his party’s victory.
In Alberta, the Conservatives took 66.78 per cent of the vote and 27 of the 28 seats, with the remaining seat going to the NDP, who took 16.81 per cent of the vote overall.
At the country-wide level, the Conservatives formed a majority government with 39.62 per cent of the popular vote and 167 seats, and the NDP formed its first ever official opposition with 30.62 per cent of the vote and 102 seats.
“In my heart, I felt we certainly had the potential of forming a majority,” said Menzies. “We kept our focus and didn’t make any grandiose promises.”
“The only promises we made during the campaign were things we could do once the books were balanced, and the voters recognized that credibility,” he said. “There is no sense promising the world if you can’t deliver it, and that is something other parties failed to recognize.”
When it comes to working with the NDP as the official opposition in the House of Commons, Menzies said he is optimistic the two parties will be able to work together for the greater good of the country.
“It could create some challenges, but we’ve worked with them all along,” said Menzies, adding that he feels the NDP’s ideologies do not differ greatly from that of the Liberal party, which had served as the official opposition since the Conservatives took power in 2006.