Larry Maguire for the Conservative Party of Canada, was re-elected to represent Brandon-Souris with the largest majority he has ever received in his 20 years as a provincial, and then federal, politician.
While Election Canada’s numbers have yet to be confirmed, the count says 25,729 voters put their mark on Maguire, giving him 63.5 per cent of the vote.
His victory was bittersweet as the Conservatives came in second nationally, winning 35.8 per cent of the ridings across Canada, compared to the Trudeau Liberals with 46.4 per cent. The fact that Conservatives had 34.4 per cent of the popular vote vs. Liberals with 33.1 may reflect the strong wins in conservative ridings, but doesn’t translate into seats.
In Dauphin-Swan River – Neepawa, newly elected first-time candidate Conservative Dan Mazier received an even stronger majority of 64.5 per cent of the vote.
Maguire's concerns
Door-knocking is done, so what is uppermost on Maguire’s mind? He has seen a lot of producers with crop unharvested, a troubling fall scenario.
He has another concern for agriculture and for the national economy, “The big issues here - we still have no trade agreements with China, we have a government that has not made trade a priority.” He explains it was the Conservative urgings in calling an emergency committee on trade with China back in March and it took until the fall to see an ambassador to China appointed.
Maguire is also concerned about the ongoing debt put on Canadians. “Now, the debt has gone up 11.5 per cent under this government in a four-year term. It’s going to be the highest debt that Canada has ever had.”
Opposition MPs can have an influence on the course of government action and Maguire says that regarding Liberal campaign promises for affordable housing, “We need to make sure we are trying to hold the government fiscally accountable, but still invest the infrastructure funds that they have indicated in their budgets.”
He is also expecting to see a three per cent increase in transfers to provinces for health and education, “to make sure that they have those funds to service our social programs of education and healthcare, which are very important. Without a good education system, we continue to fall behind other areas of the world.
“We know we have the skills to be able to do this,” he said, in reference to school curricula and University courses.
“We want to use those sources of intelligence and technology development… to be able to be the leaders in the world in technological development, in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and trying to save our environment that way.
“So those are some of the big concerns that I have.”
MPs could be called back to parliament by mid-November for a short session until the House rises on Dec. 14 (as scheduled).
“It will depend on what the Liberals do with this new minority government. Whether they will call the House back or whether they will try and get support from another party to have some confidence that they can pass legislation, remains to be seen,” says Maguire.
Brandon-Souris preliminary results:
Larry Maguire, CPC – 25,729
Ashley Duguay, NDP - 5,694
Terri Hayward, Liberal – 4,924
Bill Tiessen, Green – 2,933
Robin Lussier, PPC – 667,
Rebecca Hein, Christian Heritage – 275
Vanessa Hamilton, Ind. – 211
Robert Eastcott, Ind. - 103
Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa preliminary results:
Frank Godon, PPC – 700
Jenni Johnson, CHP – 447
Laverne Lewycky, NDP – 5,464
Dan Mazier, CPC – 24,942
Cathy Scofield, Liberal – 5,103
Kate Storey, Green – 2,090
