Re-elected Airdrie-Cochrane Member of Parliament Blake Richards pulled no punches in a forceful speech to local Conservative Party supporters after the Liberal minority government was declared in the April 28 federal election. Richards held his post-election event at Rival Axe Throwing in Airdrie, arriving just after 9:30 p.m.
"Let me just say first of all, the fight is not over," he declared, "and we are going to get another opportunity real soon, and it going to get the change we need in this country. That's going to happen. It's just a matter of when."
Richards said while he was disappointed the Liberals seemed to have narrowly held on to power for now, he felt change was going to come in Canada sooner rather than later.
"Obviously, you are always hoping for a majority government for your side, but I think I will focus on the positives tonight because there is lots of time for us to look at the future," he stated. "The positives tonight is we have added a substantial number of Conservatives into Parliament to fight on behalf of Canadians. We have a government in the Liberals who have been disastrous for the country. And we have got to still fight. We all got to make sure to keep pulling hard on the rope so we can get this across the line whenever the next election comes. We have to make the change this country needs."
Richards went on to thank his supporters, and all who voted to elect him decisively for another term.
"It's always an honour to represent your community and your fellow residents in our Parliament," he said. "For people to give their confidence to me to be their representative, it really is an honour. There is no other way to put it."
Richards also expressed his strong support for Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre, despite the latter's loss in his own seat in Carleton.
"Obviously this is someone who has contributed an incredible amount, not only to the Conservative movement in this country but in his representation of his riding ... We need him in this country."
Meanwhile in Cochrane at The Canadian Brewhouse, second place finisher and Liberal Party candidate Sean Secord reflected on his own campaign over the past eight weeks.
“It was a short election so there wasn’t a lot of time to get active. I was only asked to run eight weeks ago," he said. "A lot of the time was spent scrambling to get a team together and campaigning, but in that short time I have met a lot of amazing people. We had so many good volunteers come out and I think we were able to represent the Liberal party and able to get my name out as a good candidate for this riding. I feel really good about the people that I’ve connected with. There are a lot of Liberals in this riding that repeatedly said they need someone to vote for and get behind, which I was able to do. I’m happy that I’ve stepped forward and I’m very happy for this experience.”
Nationally, Secord gave credit to the Liberals' well-thought out platform and the transformative presence of Mark Carney as party leader during the campaign.
“When we got closer to an election, Mark Carney showed that although he wasn’t a career politician, he stood up with the right attributes at the right time to be the leader that we need for the situations that we’re dealing with at the moment," Secord said.
According to Elections Canada, the Conservative Party and Richards garnered just over 71 per cent of the vote in Airdrie-Cochrane with the Liberals placing second with just over 23 per cent of the vote. The NDP's Sarah Zagoda received 3.6 per cent of the vote, trending fairly closely to overall national vote of the NDP as a whole. The Libertarian candidate David Sabine received 0.9 per cent of the vote, and Christian Heritage Party candidate Christopher Bell rounded out the vote with a 0.5 per cent showing.
A total of 69,621 votes were cast in Airdrie-Cochrane, according to Elections Canada.
