Pierre Poilievre has regained a seat back into the House of Commons with a decisive by-election victory on Monday, August 18. The Conservative Party of Canada Leader won the riding with 80.4 per cent of the total vote in Battle River-Crowfoot.
Some political pundits questioned if Poilievre would see a noticeable erosion in a region that is historically a conservative stronghold due to locals having an inflated list of candidates to choose from.
With a staggering over 200 candidates in the riding, primarily due to the ‘Longest Ballot Committee,’ Elections Canada had to modify the ballot to be a hand printed selection rather than the standard ‘X’ or ‘Check’ format from a printed list of candidates.
Additionally, over 10 “serious” candidates campaigned strongly against Poilievre, representing a wide range of parties and viewpoints.
Independent candidate Bonnie Critchley secured 10 per cent of the vote after running a strong local-focused campaign. Liberal candidate Darcy Spady received 4.3 per cent, NDP candidate Katherine Swampy received 2.1 per cent, and United Party of Canada candidate Grant Abraham received 1.5 per cent of the vote.
Other notables included People’s Party candidate Jonathan Bridges, Green Party candidate Ashley MacDonald, Libertarian candidate Michael Harris, Christian Heritage candidate Jeff Willerton, Independent Sarah Spanier, Marijuana Party candidate Kenneth Kirk, and Centrist candidate Ahmed Hassan. Together, they combined for around 1.2 per cent of the total vote.
“Getting to know the people of this region has been the privilege of my life,” said Poilievre in his victory speech to a large crowd in Camrose on Monday night.
“In fact, I’ve had a hell of a lot of fun. Whether it’s been at the bronc matches or the rodeos, or walking into a parking lot and some guy I don’t even know offering me a big bag of beef jerky. Or another guy [giving] me a four-wheeler and [telling] me I can tear around town in it all by myself,” said Poilievre with a laugh. “I don’t know what he was thinking!”
Poilievre shifted to a more serious tone as he reflected on the past two months of campaigning in the vast geographical riding.
“I really love the people of Battle River – Crowfoot. They’re the kind of what-you-see-is-what-you get, give you the shirt off their back, tell it like it is, common sense people.
“They reinforced a lot of lessons that all of us in politics have to learn and relearn, and relearn again. Humility and hard work, loyalty and love. See, the people in these communities, they fight their own battles, but they’re always ready to stop and help a neighbour or a friend.
“They know how to stretch a dollar. Most of all, they know, in the words of the great Paul Harvey, ‘how to bale together a family with the soft, strong bonds of sharing.’”
Former MP Damien Kurek, who stepped down earlier this year to allow party leader Poilievre the opportunity to represent his local riding, was an active part of the by-election campaign. Poilievre acknowledged Kurek as an essential part of acclimating him to the area. Kurek, who was previously re-elected in April’s general election with 82.84 per cent of the vote, said he does intend to run again in 2029.
Although there was little change in the conservative vote between elections, overall around 15,000 fewer people in the riding (at press time) participated in August’s by-election versus April’s general election, according to Elections Canada data.
With a seat in the House of Commons now secured after losing his Carleton riding back in April, Poilievre will resume his role as Opposition Leader when sessions resume again in the fall. He has said he plans to hold Prime Minister Mark Carney and his Liberals to account and hold the Carney government to election promises including reduced spending and “unleashing Canada’s resource potential and restoring investment.”
Poilievre says he continually found inspiration in the people he met within the region, including meeting a woman with cancer who had just been through days of radiation treatment. “[She] showed up at my town hall in Stettler to tell me to keep going,” he said as tears welled up in his eyes and the eyes of wife Anaida standing just behind him.
“I said to her, you don’t give up so I don’t give up.”
