Earl Dreeshen has been re-elected to another term as the Conservative MP in the Red Deer-Mountain View constituency, according to unofficial results released Monday evening.
The 40-day 2019 federal election campaign in the riding saw Dreeshen face off against Paul Mitchell from the People’s Party of Canada, Conner Borle from the Green Party of Canada, Logan Garbanewski from the NDP, and Gary Trembley from the Liberal Party of Canada.
The Red Deer-Mountain View constituency includes Olds, Sundre, Didsbury, Cremona, Innisfail, Penhold, Mountain View County and portions of Red Deer County.
As of 9:30 p.m. Monday, Dreeshen had unofficially captured more than 78 per cent of the votes cast in the riding, with Garbanewski in second with 8.3 per cent of the votes with 190 of 244 polls reported.
Nationally, the Liberals were leading or elected in 156 seats, the Conservatives 121, Bloc Quebecois 32, and NDP 25.
Speaking from Red Deer on Monday night, Dreeshen said working for the people in the riding during the next Parliament will be his top priority.
“I always worked hard for my constituents and I will continue to do that,” said Dreeshen, 66. “We’ve heard a lot during this campaign. When the House starts to sit again I’m going to work as hard as I can and try to hold this new government’s feet to the fire.”
He also said he plans to continue to promote Alberta’s oil and gas industry on the national stage.
“That is one of the critical things,” he said.
He also plans to advocate for federal support for health care, education, agriculture and seniors.
“There’s the work that needs to be done in health care,” he said. “Agriculture is my background. We need to educate the public about how important agriculture is to Canada. I will use my experiences and I’m looking forward to heading back.”
Also speaking on Monday night, Garbanewski congratulated Dreeshen on his win and called on him to “keep any promises he made during the campaign.”
“I think he should keep looking out for Albertans and his constituents,” said Garbanewski. “I want to commend him on being so respectable during the campaign. He’s been very professional.”
Dreeshen was first elected MP in the Red Deer constituency in 2008 and re-elected in 2011 and in the renamed Red Deer-Mountain View riding 2015.
As an MP, he has served as a member of the standing committee on agriculture and aboriginal affairs, and has also chaired the post-secondary education caucus.
During the 2019 campaign, which saw candidates take part in several forums, Dreeshen said if re-elected he plans to work to promote the region’s petroleum industry.
“The oil and gas industry and the agriculture are so important in our area,” he said. “We need to get our natural resources out to markets around the world. We’ve seen that neglected so that will be one of the key things for me.
He said he would also work with other stakeholders to reduce rural crime in the region.
“We’ve been hearing about this issue for years but it has really ramped up with the slowdown in the Alberta economy,” he said. “We need to make sure we are hiring the judges to make sure they can deal with the caseloads they have. We want to make sure that we look at whatever unique situations there might be in order to speed up the processes in the courts.”
Work needs to be done to ensure people know their rights when it comes to protecting themselves and their properties, he said.
“I think a lot of people are unsure of just how things work and I think the awareness part is something that is critical,” he said. “If there is some clarity that is needed then we should consider that in the legislative realm.”
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