Falk wins Provencher, Liberals form government

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/09/2021 (1312 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Conservative incumbent Ted Falk was elected in Provencher for his fourth term on Monday, while the Liberal Party will once again form a minority government in our nation.

The Liberals won in 158 ridings, the Conservatives took 119, the Bloc Quebecois had 34, the NDP had 25, and Green Party candidates won in two ridings.

At the dissolution of Parliament, the Liberals had 155 seats while the Conservatives had 119.

And while Falk is no stranger to convincing victories, (until this year his lowest support has been 56.06 percent in 2015), he admitted there is one emotion he felt when they called the riding in his favour after the first dozen or so polling stations reported.

“Relief,” he said. “It’s always relief. It’s been that way every single election.”

And while his results still stand far above his competitors, close to three times as many as the second place candidate, his popularity was down from the 2019 election.

In that election he captured 65.9 percent of the vote. This year he finished at 48.74 percent.

But Falk was still happy. “I’m very pleased with my results,” he said. “It’s again a strong endorsement from Provencher, from the constituents here.”

Falk finished with 24,294 votes.

Second place in Provencher went to the Liberals, with Trevor Kirczenow collecting 8,472 votes, 17 percent of the vote, up from his 2019 total of 6,437.

The biggest change in Provencher, and one that contributed to a lower number of Conservative voters is the amount of support the PPC attracted. In 2019 they captured just over two percent of the vote, but improved that to 16.39 percent this time. That translated into 8,168 votes for Noel Gautron as compared to just over 1,000 in 2019 for the PPC candidate Wayne Sturby.

“We knew they had a bit of momentum the last couple of weeks,” Falk said. “There seems to have been a lot of frustration and anger and I think a lot of it has to do with the COVID environment that we’re in.”

Despite no evidence of any campaign whatsoever in Provencher, NDP parachute candidate Serina Pottinger had 6,270 votes for 12.58 percent of the vote. .

Trailing behind was Independent Rick Loewen, who earned 1,366 votes (2.74 percent) and the Green Party’s Janine Gibson who had 1,272 votes (2.55 percent).

Voter turnout in Provencher was 66.93 percent, down from the 70.5 percent total in 2019.

Falk said on the campaign trail they saw fear and anger, relating to COVID itself, as well as the restrictions and lockdowns.

Reflecting on national seat numbers, which are remarkably similar to the status of the House of Commons before it was dissolved, Falk said it shows the $600 million plus was spent on a needless election. “In essence, nothing’s changed,” he said.

Falk gave kudos to his volunteers who he said were excited to help, as well as his family who also offered him support throughout the campaign. “We worked hard, we worked cohesively together and I can’t say enough about the team and the volunteers,” he said.

 

Kirczenow eges out Gautron

Despite finishing second behind Conservative incumbent Ted Falk, Liberal candidate Trevor Kirczenow breathed a sigh of relief he garnered more votes than rookie PPC candidate Noel Gautron.

Early reporting in Provencher saw a battle for second place between Kirczenow and Gautron, with the Liberal candidate ultimately pulling ahead. Kirczenow called the outcome “scary.”

“I hope that it’s simply that the voters that voted for the PPC in those numbers that they were only thinking about vaccinations and that they didn’t consider any other part of the PPC platform, because the other parts of that platform are terrifying,” he said from his election night gathering at a private residence in Oakbank.

A short campaign which saw Kirczenow’s election signs repeatedly stolen and vandalized didn’t deter him from organizing a campaign which he said he’s pleased with. While votes didn’t materialize in his favour, the support Kirczenow said he received off the ballot meant just as much.

“We ran a really inspiring campaign. I’m really happy and proud,” he said. After numerous signs were found to be vandalized one supporter took it upon herself to paint a defaced placard with words of encouragement rather than those of disdain and gifting it to the Liberal candidate.

Kirczenow said while running in a predominantly conservative riding, national support for the Liberal party pulled through and he’s optimistic about Trudeau’s upcoming term, saying support for the government’s pandemic response was made clear in the numbers. He remains, however, concerned about Falk’s plan to travel back and forth between Ottawa to fulfill his duties as MP.

“These vaccination rules are here to stay, so I wonder what kind of representation we’ll have,” he said.

Kirczenow, while he would like to run in the next election, said that decision remains to be seen. Until then he’ll spend the next bit of time catching up on work around his farm.

People’s Party of Canada candidate Noel Gautron finished a close third place in the polls, close behind Kirczenow. Gautron received the most votes out of any PPC candidate in Manitoba other than Portage-Lisgar candidate Solomon Wiebe.

Receiving 16 percent of the riding’s support, Gautron collected nearly eight times the number of votes former PPC candidate Wayne Sturby did in the 2019 federal election. The 8,168 votes contributed to the party’s five percent support nationally.

“That’s extremely significant in the grand scheme of things,” Gautron said.

As provincial coordinator for the PPC party, Gautron said he saw an increase in support for the party this election; when he parachuted into the Elmwood-Transcona riding for the 2019 election he had few volunteers and fewer votes. This time, his team comprised of approximately 60 volunteers and 2,500 signs propped up across the Provencher riding.

Nationally, the party largely ran on a platform of decrying vaccine mandates and public health orders to slow the spread of COVID-19 under the guise of “protecting freedoms” resulting in dozens of rallies across the country.

Despite the visibility of his campaign Gautron blames the loss on a lack of voter penetration on a local level but remains optimistic the party can gain ground for future elections, citing baseline Conservative voters no longer feel represented by their party and are looking elsewhere.

“There is now a clear distinction between parties that are comfortable with more direct control from the federal and provincial governments and those that are looking for something more decentralized. So I think that is going to play a big factor going forward,” he said.

While leader Maxime Bernier finished second in his riding of Beauce, QC and no PPC candidates secured a seat in the House of Commons Gautron said he isn’t deterred by the lack of representation on Parliament Hill.

“There’s a very large appetite for small government, so we’re going to build forward and see what we can do there in the long term,” he said.

Loewen bests Gibson

Rookie independent candidate Rick Loewen managed to edge out veteran Green Party candidate Janine Gibson.

Loewen collected 1,308 votes (2.7 percent) to Gibson’s 1,241 (2.56 percent). In 2019, Gibson received 2,884 votes (six percent).

Loewen spent election night at home in Linden, nibbling on tapas and trying to predict vote totals with his family.

By 10 p.m., with a quarter of polling stations reporting, he had pulled even with Gibson, but said surpassing the Greens was “a low bar.”

Loewen’s campaign consisted of YouTube videos, social media posts, a small scattering of lawn signs, and a liberal helping of humour.

“I think I know personally everybody who voted for me,” he said, sipping from a rye and Coke he had poured into a Shrek glass.

There is little doubt that the presence of an independent candidate in Provencher for the first time in 72 years enlivened electoral politics in a stronghold riding.

Although he is no fan of the People’s Party, Loewen said his supporters and Gautron’s shared a sense of refreshment at seeing more options on the ballot.

Both candidates participated in a virtual candidates’ forum last week, as did Gibson and Kirczenow. Loewen called Falk’s eleventh-hour withdrawal from the event “unethical, “cheesy,” and “underhanded.”

“But politically, it makes perfect sense,” he said. He quoted a maxim gleaned from a lawyer friend: “Silence makes no mistakes.”

Loewen said Falk’s absence hobbled the event, even if it afforded other candidates more of the spotlight.

Asked what he learned from his first foray into electoral politics, Loewen replied, “That almost everyone that I talked to…said, ‘Good for you for getting engaged.’”

Will he run for office again?

“Absolutely.”

Reached by phone with just over half of Provencher’s polls reporting, Gibson tried to look on the bright side.

“In a way, I think there’s been a vote for Greens in that every party has put forward an environmental platform,” she said.

Before the night was out, the Greens had won their first-ever seat in Ontario, though their share of the national popular vote declined by nearly two-thirds.

Gibson said the party needs to find a new leader and focus on aligning its leadership vision with its core policies.

Gibson said she’s open to running again but would also welcome the opportunity to “work with new energy.”

Gibson said Falk’s absence at the candidates’ forum was “disappointing.”

She called the surge of PPC support in Provencher “surprising” and “unfortunate,” “because their message is so selfish.”

“Hopefully, we can continue to ‘love thy neighbour’ and find a way forward together.”