Liberals win minority government, Conservative MPs elected in two local ridings
By Kyra Hoggan
Canada’s 45th federal election is over, with Liberal leader Mark Carney continuing in his role as Prime Minister at the head of a minority government,
The Liberals won by a scant 2.4 per cent of the vote, capturing 43.7 per cent of the vote (8,510,084 votes, 169 seats) compared to the Conservative’s 41.3 per cent (6,069,326 votes, 144 seats)
Both local ridings (Similkameen-South Okanagan-West Kootenay, which includes Rossland and Castlegar as well as the Columbia-Kootenay-Southern Rockies riding, which includes Trail and Nelson) now have Conservative MPs.
In Similkameen-South Okanagan-West Kootenay, Helena Konanz has thrown her name in the ring three times, taking her first win April 28 with 44.1 per cent of the vote (29,758 votes), while incumbent NDP MP Richard Cannings declined to run again.
In Columbia-Kootenay-Southern Rockies riding, Conservative incumbent Rob Morrison (who has served as MP since 2019 in what was then called the Kootenay-Columbia riding before the electoral boundaries were redrawn) captured 50.5 per cent of the vote, a total of 35,830 votes.
Federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre and NDP leader Jagmeet Singh both lost their seats. The latter has since stepped down from office. Green Party leader Elizabeth May kept her seat and is now the only Green Party MP.
Voter turnout saw more than 19.5 million of Canada’s more than 28.5 million registered voters cast a ballot, making this the highest voter turnout in almost four decades at 68.62 per cent, compared to just under 63 per cent in 2021.
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