COLUMN: Carillon Flashback October 22, 2015 – Falk wins but Harper loses as Trudeau sweeps to power

As his supporters began filing out of his election night party, Provencher’s returning Member of Parliament Ted Falk admitted he heard the anti-Harper sentiment reverberating throughout the country, and on local doorsteps, too.

“During the campaign, I didn’t talk about it too much, but it was a bit of a theme; either you loved Stephen Harper or you thought it was time for change. We were feeling that at the door,” admitted Falk. “We had people saying they wanted change, but not in the Conservative policies, not in the Conservative Party, but a change in leadership.”

Falk would still win this riding, his first bid for re-election, with a convincing 55.8 percent of the electorate.

His total, however, was a dip from the 58 percent of the vote he secured in the 2013 by-election that ushered him to into office.

With Liberal candidate Terry Hayward boosting his party’s fortunes five percentage points to 34.4 percent, Monday’s election results marked the closest election race the Tory stronghold has seen since 2000, when Falk’s predecessor, Vic Toews, won his first election. The Liberals last won in 1997.

Voter turnout in Provencher stood at 69.8 percent, the highest the riding has experienced since 2000. A total of 45,099 votes were cast.

Nationwide, voters offered a rebuke to both the governing Conservatives and the Official Opposition by electing the third party, the Liberals, to a majority government.

Falk said he found it disappointing to see the vilification of Harper, who has stepped down as leader.

“I found that actually quite frustrating, because I’ve worked with Mr. Harper and I know the kind of person he is. I believe he’s a person of integrity, extremely hard working, a very principled individual, and makes very wise decisions and I’m really scared for the kind of decision-making capacity we’re going to have with our new Prime Minister.”

Falk said he believes “100 percent” it is the media that prompted the country’s frustration with the status quo.

“The media made Prime Minister Harper out to be someone who he wasn’t. They coined him as a dictator and someone who was not truthful when it came to his knowledge of the Duffy affair.”

Grant Burr, in an editorial responding to Falk’s claim, said Harper’s folly was his own and the Conservative leader did himself no favours on the campaign trail, thanks to a scandal-plagued time in office and a campaign with few flashes of the effectiveness that made Harper successful in the past.

It wasn’t the media that appointed Mike Duffy to the Senate, Burr said. Harper’s failure to execute reforms in the Senate was made worse by disastrous appointments and that is a reality he created himself.

If you based Conservatives’ fortunes solely on the mood at Falk’s election party, you may not have guessed Stephen Harper was defeated, or that the Conservatives were shut out from their six Winnipeg seats.

Falk’s office was a jovial place, with resounding applause when another poll showed Falk with a heady lead.

In his victory speech, Falk conceded there is work to do now that his party is not in charge. He then turned his attention to the local race and acknowledged the nearly 200 volunteers who helped him capture Provencher again.

“It’s a very good win, it’s a convincing win. We’re happy about that,” he told dozens of supporters at his campaign office in Steinbach.