Thursday, September 23, 2021

HE JUST WON A CABINET POST
Federal election: Liberals gain Edmonton Centre after neck-and-neck race
Kellen Taniguchi 
SEP 22,2021
© Provided by Edmonton Journal Randy Boissonnault outside his campaign office, speaks to the media after getting the mail-in ballot results from Elections Canada that he won in the Edmonton Centre riding, Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021.

The battleground federal riding of Edmonton Centre is once again Liberal red.

Liberal candidate Randy Boissonnault was declared the winner Wednesday night after all mail-in ballots were counted, unseating Conservative incumbent James Cumming.

The two were in a neck-and-neck race during Monday’s election, with Boissonnault leading by a razor-thin margin of 136 votes at the end of the night.


Elections Canada’s final tally showed he won by 577 votes, with 33.7 per cent of support just ahead of Cumming’s 32.5 per cent.


“Deep gratitude to the residents of Edmonton Centre, to the dream team we assembled, to the hundreds of volunteers who rallied to the cause to have a strong progressive voice representing them in the government in Ottawa and to send a clear message to everybody that there’s diversity in this province,” Boissonnault told Postmedia. “Diversity of thought, diversity of where people come from, how they want our society to be organized, but most importantly just that they want us to do the work that we promised to do.”

Boissonnault said that work includes implementing $10 a day childcare, a plan to combat climate change, getting concrete actions in place to combat racism and discrimination and affordable housing.

Boissonnault said he’s sure a lot of people were refreshing their internet browsers waiting for the final results to come in, but at about 4:15 p.m. on Wednesday he and his core team felt gratitude and the deep understanding that there’s heavy lifting ahead and they’re ready to do it.

Cumming conceded with a video posted to his Twitter account early Wednesday evening.

“Thank you to my family and the hundreds of volunteers who came out to support me this election,” Cumming tweeted. “I wish (Randy Boissonnault) all the best as he heads to Ottawa.”

“Congrats go out to Randy Boissonnault. Congratulations to your team,” Cumming said in the video. “You know Randy, you know what this riding’s like, they demand performance and I hope that you will stand up for the citizens of Edmonton Centre.”

Cumming said he isn’t sure what’s next for him but he will always be an advocate for the community.

Edmonton Centre is historically a close riding and this year was a race between Boissonnault, Cumming and the NDP’s Heather MacKenzie who received 28.8 per cent of the vote.

“I want to thank James and Heather for a good race, a positive race and one that showed the best of Edmonton politics and I wish them and their families all my best,” said Boissonnault.

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