Menzies wins in a landslide

By John Barlow
Editor

Bittersweet was the taste of victory for newly crowned Conservative MP Ted Menzies on Monday in the wake of a landslide win in the Macleod riding.
Although Menzies won his home riding with more than 74 per cent of the vote, his Conservative party failed to unseat the Liberals to form the federal government.
“I am very excited about this great opportunity,” said Menzies outside his High River campaign headquarters before heading to Calgary for a Conservative “celebration.”
Of the loss to the Liberals he said, “We wanted to bring respect back to Parliament, but unfortunately we are not going to see that happen. But, we will be a strong and forceful opposition.”
However, in Macleod, Menzies had little opposition as he dominated the riding earning 32,232 of the votes. The results have yet to be made official.
In comparison, Liberal Chris Shade had 5,224 votes (12 per cent), Laurie Fadeef of the Green Party had 2,866 votes (6.6 per cent) and New Democrat Joyce Thomas had 2,801 votes (6.5 per cent).
According to Elections Canada, in the Macleod riding there was a 61.5 per cent voter turnout (43,123 of the 70,141 registered voters placed a ballot).
Nationally, the Conservatives kept the Liberals from winning a majority government. The Liberals, under Prime Minister Paul Martin, won 135 of the 308 seats, but needed 155 for a majority. The Liberals had 168 seats heading into the election.
The Conservatives took 99 seats (up from 73), the Bloc Quebecois 54 seats, the NDP earned 19 seats with one independent.
Although the Conservatives, under leader Stephen Harper, will not form the new government as hoped, Menzies said he still has a job to do in Ottawa.
“Some of the goals I would like to see is to bring back the importance of agriculture in rural Canada,” said Menzies who accused the Liberals of alienated rural Canada.
He said his top priority will be addressed the mad cow crisis — an issue many Alberta ranchers felt was not given enough attention during the election campaign.
Menzies said there have not been any definitive answers, but one of the key reasons the United States continues to ban the import of Canadian live cattle is the federal government’s antagonistic relationship with the United States.
“We have to find a solution (to the mad cow crisis),” said Menzies. “I will work diligently either through my contacts in the United States or finding a way to get more packing plants up and running.”
Menzies’ second order of business in Ottawa will be to have a through investigation into the recent scandals that rocked the Liberal government.
“It has been a string of broken promises,” said Menzies. “Answers were promised, but there have been no answers. Some people should be in jail and some should have lost their jobs. Some MPs should not have been running in this election.”
However, despite the sponsorship scandal, the escalating cost of the gun registry and the “billion-dollar boondoggle” human resources scandal, the Liberals continue to have the support of the majority of Canadians. A fact Menzies finds frustrating.
“I am frustrated, certainly,” he said of the Conservatives failure to unseat the Liberals. “We thought we would do better, you cannot help but be frustrated.”
But Menzies added that he is optimistic the Conservatives are headed in the right direction.
“We are a young party and we have to be happy with the gains we have made,” he said. “One step at a time.
“Six months ago we did not have a party and look what we have accomplished. We have brought two ideologies together and gave it a good run and gave (the Liberals) a good scare.”