Austin Connelly
October. 21st 2019
It wasn’t a perfect night for the supporters of James Cumming who saw the Liberal’s regain power with a minority government. But the supporters who gathered at the James Cumming’s HQ party on Jasper Ave were able to cheer when the man they voted for was able to win with 21,586 votes.
At the party, the mood was surprisingly upbeat, but the election was called for a minority government before any votes in Western Canada were really counted. One man at the party was visibly disappointed because he knew it would be four more years of the Liberal government early on, but he did share why he strongly supports the Conservative party.
“I’m from Ontario originally and my wife is from New Brunswick. We moved all over at the start and I support the Conservative party because when I moved to Alberta it gave my wife and I a chance. If you have a work ethic in Alberta you can get ahead,” says Dave Flemming.
For a Province that’s largely voted Conservative during their history, the Edmonton ridings are seemingly up for grabs each Federal Election. The Edmonton Centre district is one of the biggest ridings in the city and incumbent Liberal Randy Boissonnault was able to edge out Conservative James Cumming by only 1,200 votes in 2015. This time around, however, it was Mr. Cumming who came out victorious and will be heading to Ottawa as a first time Member of Parliament.
The mood of the party quickly changed once almost the entire Alberta province started going blue as cheers erupted after each riding was announced. The party then quickly got going once James Cumming was elected and his Conservative predecessor Laurie Hawn who won three of his four ridings starting in 2004.
“This was the best campaign that I have ever seen run in my so many years around politics,” said Laurie Hawn during his introduction speech for James Cumming.
It was clear why Mr. Cumming was so well-liked by his supporters when he spent more time thanking his volunteers individually during his speech than talking about himself.
After congratulating the other candidates James got into what type of leader he wants to be for his supporters.
“I’m here to represent all the constituents of Edmonton Centre and I will do that with all my heart—and I can assure you that I will stand up for everybody in this riding, not just the Conservatives but everybody that deserves our support,” said James. “We have a lot of work to do and I promise you I will fulfill that task.”
James and the other Alberta MP’s will have lots of work to do as the official opposition to Mr. Trudeau’s Liberal minority government, but will be behind the eight ball as they’ll likely have no Cabinet Ministers representing the Canadian government. Minority governments rarely last so Mr. Cumming won’t have too much time to settle in and will have to prove his supporters right quickly if he’ll maintain his seat for the next Federal election.
Edmonton Centre Politics 