Liberal Tom Rooke is seen speaking to supporters Monday night in his election campaign office.--NEWS PHOTO BRENDAN MILLER
bmiller@medicinehatnews.com
Although local polls did not favour Medicine Hat-Cardston-Warner candidate Tom Rooke – the Liberal received approximately 17 per cent of votes at the time of publication – his campaign headquarters remained lively Monday night as news outlets projected Mark Carney would be the next prime minister of Canada.
Rooke believes Canadian sovereignty was top of mind for voters heading into the election as tension between Ottawa and the Trump administration thickens, and he believes Carney is the correct candidate to stand up for Canada.
“I think he’s a strong leader, I think he’s a world leader, I think he’s a statesman,” said Rooke. “He’s well educated, a smart economist and I think that’s what we need at this time. So I feel very good that the Liberals are leading. I said all through the campaign that it made sense to me that the Liberals were going to form the next government.”
Rooke says he’s relieved that Canadians seemed to have voted to keep the Liberal Party in power, as opposed to a “right-winged” Conservative party led by Pierre Poilievre, adding that the Liberal Party falls just left of the political spectrum.
“The Liberals, the NDP are progressive parties, the Conservatives used to be, but they dropped that term and they’ve become, in my humble opinion, too far to the right.” said Rooke.
Additionally Rooke shared his skepticism on Poilievre’s leadership and negotiation skills when dealing with an unpredictable U.S. president.
“I really seriously could not imagine Pierre Poilievre trying to stand up to Donald Trump, he would fold, he just doesn’t have the background for it.”
Rooke, a well-known Hatter, says plans to continue representing the Liberal party in the riding and says he will be better prepared for the next election.
Votes for New Democratic Party candidate Jocelyn Johnson came in at roughly 4.9% of the vote when the riding was called, a decrease from her previous campaign in the 2021 federal election, in which she secured 14.08% of Medicine Hat Cardston-Warner Votes while running under her maiden name, Jocelyn Stenger.
Johnson commented that this was not a surprise in this “unique election” and offered her congratulations to both Motz and all the candidates for running.
She continued to say she had an excellent experience speaking with voters and members of the communities that make up the riding.
“I’ve heard a lot of folks, a real diversity of voices across the riding so I’ve really appreciated the opportunity, and I look forward to continuing to build in the community,” said Johnson.
It is her sincere hope that Canadians continue to come together to build infrastructure in between elections and stay engaged.
“My hope is that there’s some really productive dialog between different parties and between different members of the community, where we can find areas where we can, we can come together and have common goals and have productive conversations and healthy debate,” said Johnson. “I think we would all be better for that.”
Green Party candidate Andy Shadrack took roughly 1% percent of the vote at the time Medicine Hat-Cardston Warner was called, compared to the previous Green candidate Diandra Bruised Head, who garnered support from 1.50% of voters in 2021.
Shadrack said that above all else, he feels he got his message across to voters, which was his primary desire for running a campaign for the Green Party.
“I felt that the Green Party was well respected, and I was able to give people the opportunity to consider what I had to say,” said Shadrack. “Democracy is about having a dialogue, and we need that dialogue, about what kind of a country we’re going to build.”
