Trudeau Liberals secure second Alberta seat, win riding by just 577 votes

The Trudeau Liberals secured their second Alberta seat late Wednesday as the Liberal candidate, and former Minister Randy Boissonnault won a close three-way race in Edmonton Centre. He defeated Conservative incumbent James Cumming by 577 votes, with New Democrat Heather McKenzie in third place, reported CTV News.

On Tuesday morning, Liberal Boissonnault had a lead of 136 votes over Cumming, with more than 2,200 special ballots still to be counted.

"I'm very much looking forward to joining Liberal colleagues across the country to get on board with an ambitious plan to deliver results for Edmontonians," said Boissonnault upon learning the election results in his riding.

The Liberal candidate added he looks forward to working with fellow Liberal George Chahal, who won the riding of Calgary Skyview with 42.7 percent of the vote. He, too, defeated the Conservative incumbent. Jag Sahota earned 35.6 percent support from the riding.

"The government needs to know what Albertans are thinking and what our needs are, it's also important for organizations, for businesses, for non-profit associations, for industry associations, to know that they can meet with Members of Parliament who are from Alberta in the governing party and that we can actually, not just listen to them, but we can get work done," said Boissonnault.

The Edmonton Centre incumbent took to social media to congratulate Boissonnault on his electoral victory.

"Congrats go out to Randy Boissonnault … I hope that you will stand up for the citizens of Edmonton Centre," he said.

This marks the third federal election where Boissonnault and Cumming ran against each other, with the Liberal winning in 2015 and the Conservative in 2019.

Chahal, a former Calgary City Councillor, chimed in on the party’s success in the province, stating, "We sent a strong voice to City Hall to fight for equity and opportunity for northeast Calgary, and we will do the same in Ottawa."

The Conservatives saw their share of the popular vote decline in Alberta to 55 percent owing to rural vote-splitting with the PPC, and rising metropolitan support for progressive alternatives, especially in central Edmonton.

New Democrat Heather McPherson won in Edmonton Strathcona, and Blake Desjarlais beat Conservative incumbent Kerry Diotte in Edmonton Griesbach.

Alberta's remaining 30 ridings went Conservative.