OLDS — Nathan Cooper, the incumbent Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills MLA, is once again representing the riding.
Just after 12 midnight, with all 22 polls reporting, Cooper, the United Conservative Party candidate, had received 18,170 votes. NDP candidate Cheryl Hunter-Loewen finished a distant second with 4,571 votes. Katherine Kowalchuk of the Independence Party of Alberta finished third with 1,147 votes.
Cam Tatlock of the Wildrose Loyalty Coaltion obtained 194 votes and Judy Bridges of the Solidarity Movement of Alberta received 115.
The UCP has formed a majority government.
Now that he’s re-elected, will Cooper serve a speaker for a second straight term?
During an interview with the Albertan, Cooper left the door open to serving again as speaker or angling for a cabinet post of some sort – maybe infrastructure or transportation.
“I intend to sit down with the premier and see what her hopes, desires and dreams are for the province.
“I want to be a good teammate. So whether or not that’s best to serve in cabinet or as the speaker, I think I’ll have a discussion with her about that. I’m certainly willing to do either,” he said.
“I want to try to best support our team as well as best represent the constituents of Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills.”
As he had through the campaign, Cooper said contrary to what some might think, in the high-profile position of speaker, he brought more government attention to the constituency than it might otherwise have received.
Reached late in the evening, Hunter-Lowen said she’s “disappointed, of course, but not surprised” by the result in Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills.
However, she said she’s proud of what her campaign accomplished, saying it built momentum for the NDP in the riding.
“We were out here to give the residents of Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills an option, to put forward a vision for a better future for Albertans,” she said.
Hunter-Loewen was asked if she plans to run in the riding in the next election.
“Right now I don’t plan to run anything. I plan to go to bed and sleep,” she said with a laugh.
“I’m pretty tired tonight, so I’m going to do my heavy thinking when I have fresh brain and a clear head.”
Kowalchuk said her campaign did well, comparatively speaking.
She said the results show that “this party is gaining momentum and that people are more open to our platform as a solution.”
During an election forum in Olds, Kowalchuk disagreed with suggestions that by choosing her, electors would be splitting the vote.
She stood by that position on election night.
"You see the numbers, right? I mean the NDP isn’t doing extremely well in this riding, which was expected, so yes, there was no worry about splitting the vote,” she said.
