Tuesday, September 21, 2021

IN MY RIDING THE NDP CANDIDATE WON
NDP candidate Blake Desjarlais ousts Conservative incumbent Kerry Diotte in Edmonton-Griesbach

Edmonton Griesbach
Population
112,287
Candidates
*Blake DESJARLAIS - NDP (leading) - 40%
*Kerry DIOTTE - Conservative (incumbent) - 37.1%
*Habiba MOHAMUD - Liberal - 13.8%
*Thomas MATTY - PPC - 6.6%
*Heather LAU - Green - 1.4%
*Morgan WATSON - Libertarian - 0.6%
*Alex BOYKOWICH - Communist - 0.3%
*Mary JOYCE - Marxist-Leninist - 0.2%

By Kirby Bourne 630CHED
Posted September 21, 2021 9:52 am
Updated September 21, 2021 10:51 am
Local candidate Blake Desjarlais, right, takes a souvenir photo of NDP leader Jagmeet Singh and supporters during a campaign rally in Edmonton, on Thursday, August 19, 2021. 
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson


The riding of Edmonton-Griesbach has flipped from Conservative to NDP in the 2021 federal election, as incumbent Kerry Diotte lost his seat to newcomer Blake Desjarlais.


The riding was too close to call on election night and Global News projected Desjarlais would win shortly before 10 a.m. on Tuesday.

As of 9:50 a.m., Desjarlais had 39.9 per cent of the vote.


According to his profile on the NDP website, Desjarlais is a Metis/Cree Two Spirit man who was born in Edmonton and was raised in the Fishing Lake Metis Settlement. He is the first openly Two Spirit MP in Canada’s parliament. He is also Alberta’s only Indigenous MP.

Diotte won the riding in 2019 with 51.4 per cent of the vote. During his time as an MP, Diotte served as a member of the parliamentary standing committee on human resources, skills and social development and the status of persons with disabilities prior to the 2021 election.

Before becoming an MP, Diotte was a member of Edmonton city council for one term beginning in 2010. Before that, he held a number of roles, including reporter and columnist with the Edmonton Sun and other news organizations.

NDP's Desjarlais holds lead over Conservative Diotte in Edmonton-Griesbach battle


CTV News Edmonton
Staff
Updated Sept. 21, 2021 10:54 a.m. MDT
Published Sept. 20, 2021 11:43 p.m. MDT

New Democrat candidate Blake Desjarlais holds a narrow lead over incumbent Kerry Diotte in Edmonton-Griesbach after the initial count Monday night, but the race remains too close to call according to CTV News projections.

With 231 out of 232 polls reporting early Tuesday morning, Desjarlais led by just over 1,000 votes.


The Canadian Press called the race for Desjarlais earlier Monday night.


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Liberal candidate Habiba Mohamud will finish third, followed by the People Party of Canada’s Thomas Matty.

The final vote tally will be determined later Tuesday as Elections Canada counts 1,746 remaining mail-in ballots.

Diotte won the riding when it was first contested in 2015 and then again in 2019 when he received more than 51 per cent of the vote.

The former Edmonton city councillor and newspaper columnist had served as the Tories' deputy critic for national revenue and public procurement.


Desjarlais, 27, was seeking to reverse a trend that saw voting support for the NDP fall over the last two elections: from 34 per cent of votes in 2015, down to 25 per cent in 2019.


If elected he would become Alberta’s only Indigenous MP and is also believed to be Canada's first openly two-spirited MP .

A Desjarlais win would be the result of a focused effort from the party, says Mount Royal University political scientist Duane Bratt.

"Greisbach has never been in play before," he said. " It was a combination of recruiting a star NDP candidate with the full cooperation of both the federal NDP and the provincial NDP and they don’t often get along."

Federal party leader Jagmeet Singh visited the riding twice during the campaign and a number of provincial NDP representatives, including Opposition leader and former premier Rachel Notely, campaigned there as well.



KARMA 

FOR THE TORY WHO REPRESENTED THIS RIDING FOR YEARS, PETER GOLRING, WHEN IT WAS EDMONTON EAST 
(IT IS NOW A COMBINED RIDING) 

IN PARLIMENT HE PUBLICLY CALLED METIS LEADER LOUIS RIEL A TRAITOR WHO DESERVED TO HANG

IN THE LARGEST URBAN INDIGINEOUS RIDING IN EDMONTON OR ALBERTA

IRONICALLY AS EDMONTON EAST THIS WAS THE FIRST FEDERAL RIDING IN EDMONTON TO GO TO THE NDP

Ross Harvey (born 25 April 1952 in VancouverBritish Columbia) is a Canadian politician who was a member of the House of Commons of Canada from 1988 to 1993. He sat as an NDP MP from 1988 to 1993, representing Edmonton-East

He was elected in the 1988 federal election at the Edmonton East electoral district for the New Democratic Party. He served in the 34th Canadian Parliament but lost to Judy Bethel of the Liberal Party in the 1993 federal election. Among the issues he championed in the House of Commons were renewable energy and justice for the Lubicon Lake Cree nation. Until Linda Duncan's victory in the 2008 federal election, Harvey was the only Alberta member of the NDP or its predecessor party elected to the House of Commons.

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