The fate of the future federal government was decided Oct. 19 and, despite the poll map showing a dark blue Conservative colour for Alberta, the new federal leader was announced as Justin Trudeau from the Liberal Party – winning with a majority.
“Surprise, surprise,” commented Cochrane Mayor Ivan Brooker.
“After the way the provincial election went, I was totally shocked by that, so nothing at this point would surprise me – I’m not sure how I feel about a [Liberal majority] though.”
Other comments on local social media sites were more vocal about their thoughts.
Commentators discussed their frustrations with the newly-elected Liberal government; comparing the new Prime Minister to his late father Pierre Trudeau; voicing their annoyance with television stations announcing predications for election results before the polls were closed in Alberta and British Columbia; and one commentator even writing “The western provinces should just separate.”
Brooker echoed comments about early predictions during his interview.
“It never really seems to matter, whatever the East does, that is the outcome [and] whatever the West does, in my experience, is whether you have the minority or majority – this time they didn’t even need the West to get a majority,” the mayor commented.
But despite red as the colour in the East, with a blue Alberta, Banff-Airdrie MP Blake Richards was re-elected with over 60 per cent of the vote.
Brooker said he was happy to hear that Richards was re-elected.
“I think Blake has done a good job for us in the past and I think he will be able to advocate for us well,” Brooker said.
“Obviously the federal election means a lot to the country and province and us municipally, but we deal, more on a municipal level, with the provincial government than we ever do with the federal.”
So what does a Liberal majority government mean for Cochrane?
Only time will tell, said the mayor.
“The promises that Mr. Trudeau has made as far as spending for infrastructure and those things may be a positive for our province – we had applied under Building Canada for some grant funding for the [future] bridge and at the time it was not approved. But if there is new monies that [PM Trudeau] has decided he wants to spend on infrastructure projects, then I would hope ours would be given consideration,” Brooker said.
“We will wait and see.”
