Cathy McLeod has won a fourth term in the Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo riding.
With all 283 polls reporting, McLeod got 44.7 per cent of the vote (32,057 votes) to the Liberal candidate Terry Lake’s 27.3 per cent of the vote (19,543 votes) in the riding.
“I was the one that was lucky. But I look at what’s happened, and I think there’s a message the voters are sending us,” said McLeod. “And I think we need to look at that message and really think about our country, how important it is to keep the threads that bind us together strong.”
All told, there were 71,703 votes cast, good for a 69.78 per cent voter turnout.
“Quite frankly I thought it would be closer, but that’s life and you know what, you try hard and the voters are never wrong,” Lake added. “I just appreciate this team that we’ve had. I love Kamloops. I love this region and I’m glad I made this decision, even though I’m disappointed with the results.”
The NDP’s Cynthia Egli finished third with 9,824 votes, ahead of Green Party candidate Iain Currie’s 8,696 – which nearly doubled the previous best finish for the Greens in the riding.
Currie says the party exceeded its expectations in every metric except on the ballot.
“We did everything we could. Climate change was a major issue. you know we ran on a campaign expecting that what people were saying to me is that they were tired of the major parties, tired of the same old thing, but it certainly doesn’t appear that way from the results I’ve seen locally or across the country,” Currie said.
Rounding out the field was Ken Finlayson with the People’ Party of Canada, at 1,123 votes, Kira Cheesborough with the Animal Protection Party was sixth at 317 votes, while the Communist Party’s Peter Kerek rounded out the field with 143 votes.
Cheeseborough says that she learned a lot along the campaign trail, adding if she runs again, she would start campaigning sooner.
“The results I think are still wonderful because its reflecting that there are people who are agreeing with the platform and the message that I’m bringing forward beyond just animals, but for the environment and for people as a whole,” she said.
People’s Party of Canada candidate Ken Finlayson meanwhile told NL it’s too soon to decide if he will run for office again in the future.
“I quoted an old Scottish warrior, I think it goes something like this, ‘Lay me down and bleed a while, but I might rise again and fight another day.'” he said. “So for now, I’m going back to the ranch. We got some chores to do.”
And Kerek too noted he’s disappointed but not surprised by the results.
“It’s a disappointment, but it’s not surprising after generations of anti-communist propaganda that I wouldn’t have done as well as I had wished,” he said.
NDP candidate Cynthia Egli was not available for comment last night.
In the Central Okanagan-Similkameen-Nicola riding, which includes Merritt, Conservative Dan Albas has been re-elected. With all 227 polls reporting, Albas had 30,364 votes to the Liberal’s Mary Ann Murphy’s 15,843 votes.
In North Okanagan-Shuswap, Mel Arnold was re-elected with nearly 50 per cent of the vote. With all 286 polls reporting, he had 35,753 votes to the Liberals’ Cindy Derkaz’s 16,626 votes.
In Mission-Matsqui-Fraser Canyon, Liberal Jati Sidhu lost his seat to the Conservatives Brad Vis. Vis got 19,271 votes to Sidhu’s 12,022 will all 179 polls reporting.
– With files from Colton Davies, Bill Cowen, Brett Mineer, and Curt Appleby
All polling stations have now been counted in the #Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo riding, showing that @Cathy_McLeod wins with 32,057 votes. 71,702 votes cast altogether across the riding – which is up from 2015. More to come tomorrow on @RadioNLNews. pic.twitter.com/kTZw0dNPxx
— Colton Davies (@ColtonDavies_) October 22, 2019
At the constituency office of @Cathy_McLeod for the evening as supporters starting to flow in as the polls officially close here in #Kamloops @RadioNLNews pic.twitter.com/ichczFeGOB
— Curt Appleby (@CApps32) October 22, 2019
