Conservatives maintain dominance in Calgary as Liberals win single seat

Calgary remains a Conservative stronghold after Monday’s federal election, winning all but one of the city’s electoral districts.

Although winners were declared early in most of the city’s ridings, it was a late night in Calgary-Centre, Calgary-McKnight, and Calgary-Confederation, where races were too close to call.

The Conservatives held on to Calgary-Centre, where incumbent Greg McLean was re-elected for his third term after a tight race with Liberal candidate Lindsay Luhnau.

McLean told reporters he was pleased with the growth in Conservative support across the country and in Calgary.

“It is a city that’s been held back by this Liberal government’s policies,” McLean said. “I have to wonder what do Calgarians have to see to understand the Liberal government is not moving this province forward, is not moving this city forward, it’s costing them day by day.”

The Conservatives won by a double-digit margin in Calgary-Nose Hill, Calgary-Shepard, Calgary-Heritage, Calgary-Midnapore, Calgary-Signal Hill, Calgary-East, Calgary-Crowfoot and Calgary-Skyview.

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It was also a narrow Tory victory for Dalwinder Gill in Calgary-McKnight, who defeated Liberal incumbent George Chahal.

Chahal was the only Liberal elected in Calgary in the last federal election in the riding of Calgary-Skyview. Had he won, Chahal would’ve been the first Liberal MP to win re-election in Calgary.

Chahal’s campaign did not respond to Global News’ request for comment.

It wasn’t until Tuesday afternoon when Global News’ Decision desk declared the city’s sole Liberal victory in Calgary-Confederation, with Corey Hogan managing to hold on to defeat former provincial cabinet minister Jeremy Nixon in the tightest race in the city.

Hogan was named a replacement candidate in Calgary-Confederation a week into the campaign, and said the Liberals also saw support grow in Alberta despite being only one of two red ridings in the province.

“More Albertans supported the Liberal party as a percentage of the voters than in any election since the 1960s,” Hogan told Global News.

“There’s a lot of signs you can take from this but I think one of them is there’s strong support for a strong, united Canada.”

Colin Aitchison, a former staffer with the United Conservative Party, said the results show the Liberals couldn’t break through with a decline in NDP support in several close Calgary ridings.

“The Liberal party did really well, they just weren’t able to get it across the finish line,” he told Global News.

“The Conservatives got what they wanted out of Calgary but probably would’ve liked that one additional seat, but the Liberal party weren’t able to capitalize on those seats they needed to push themselves over the top.”

According to Lori Williams, an associate professor of policy studies at Mount-Royal University, the prime minister should extend an olive branch to Alberta after another election of a Liberal minority government, despite strong Conservative support in Alberta.

“There are real issues in Alberta… Mark Carney is going to have to reach out to Alberta leaders to address that sense of Albertans not being fully heard, not feeling fairly treated,” she said.