Conservative Party of Canada MP-elect Chris Warkentin earned 84.2 per cent of the vote in Grande Prairie-Mackenzie, smashing his previous highest margin of victory by nearly 10 full points.
According to Elections Canada, with 228 of 230 polls reporting, Warkentin received 50,458 of a possible 59,963 votes. The next closest candidate, the NDP’s Erin Alyward, saw 4,064 ballots cast in her favour, or 6.4 per cent of eligible registered voters.
“It is really an honour for me to have this endorsement,” says Warkentin. “What I have as a responsibility that comes with a strong endorsement is a recognition that I have to continue to serve every member of my constituency.”
Without accounting for election day registrations, Elections Canada says 70.77 per cent of registered voters in Grande Prairie-Mackenzie took part in the 2019 federal election. In 2015, 53,501 voters cast a ballot, with a total rise in votes up nearly 6,000 in 2019.
Liberal Ken Munro came third with 2,803 votes, the People’s Party of Canada’s Doug Burchill took in 1,473 votes, and the Green Party’s Shelley Termeunde received 1,138 votes.
Since 2011 and the forming of the Grande Prairie – Mackenzie riding, Warkentin had never crossed the 80 per cent threshold. The former record for the soon-to-be five-term MP was 76 per cent when he received 38,895 votes in 2015.