Conservatives flip Kootenay Columbia riding as Liberals form a minority government
By Nelson Daily Staff
By Jesse Cole
The East Kootenays have gone blue as Conservative Party candidate Rob Morrison was declared the winner for the riding late Monday night.
Having lived in the riding for the past four decades, Morrison ousted incumbent New Democrat Wayne Stetski by 7,186 votes. In the 2015 federal election, Stetski wrestled the riding out of 18 years of conservative governance by just under 300 votes.
Morrison won the riding with 29,893 votes and 45.1 per cent of the vote. Stetski took in 22,707 votes and 34.2 per cent of the vote.
Morrison held a lead early on in the polls, nearly doubling Stetski in voting percentage before Stetski tightened the race. The two candidates were neck-and-neck for much of the nights polling.
“I am so happy, and so proud of the people who helped me get me where I’m at,” Morrison told a group of supporters Monday night from a victory celebration in Cranbrook.
“Without the campaigning. . .. Without an understanding family this job that we’ve done so far is impossible, and I just want to thank them.”
Morrison told the crowd of supporters he remembers starting out on the journey to become MP for Kootenay Columbia two-and-a-half years ago when he decided to toss his hat into the ring as the Conservative candidate to unseat Wayne Stetski.
He said it has been a lot of work, traveling more than 68,000 kilomoters, but with the overwhelming support of volunteers he was able to knock on almost 20,000 doors to get a pulse on the voting public.
“I’m just so proud to be able to serve every person here and all of our constituents in Kootenay Columbia,” Morrison said.
“I’ve listened a lot, and I’ve heard the issues and guarantee to you I will be accountable in Ottawa and I will look after Kootenay Columbia . . . that is my priority.”
While national media declared Morrison the winner just before 10 p.m. PDT, Stetski’s campaign office had not yet reached the same declaration. Stetski, who served as a member of provincial parliament and Mayor of Cranbrook, said that he hoped Morrison would be a high-quality representative of the region.
“I hope that he provides the high-quality service that myself and my team were able to provide over the past four years,” Stetski said. “It’s a lot of work to be a good member of parliament. It takes one that takes people’s concerns seriously and tries to deal with them. I hope that happens.”
Abra Brynne, the Green Party candidate, received 9.0 per cent of the vote placing fourth just a few votes behind Liberal candidate Robin Goldsbury. Brynne, who has lived in Nelson for nearly three decades, said the outcome was unpredictable.
“I think it was anybody’s guess as to which way it was going to go,” she said. “It was a reflection of a couple of years of hard work that Rob Morrison put in as well as the nature of Canadian politics,” Brynne said.
Brynne echoed Stetski’s hopes for Morrison’s leadership, saying despite their differences she hoped for the best.
“I expect he’ll take his responsibility seriously. I do respect him and we have different political understandings but I am confident he will seek to represent this riding well to the best of his ability,” Brynne said in the wake of the election. “I look forward to reaching out to him and having conversations about what I think he needs to understand this part of the riding.”
Also in the running were People’s Party of Canada candidate Rick Stewart who received 1,359 votes or 2.1 per cent of the vote as well as Trev Miller of the Animal Protection Party who received 336 votes or 0.5 per cent of the vote.
All 268 polling stations had been counted.
