Conservative Party of Canada incumbent Bob Zimmer has retained his seat as MP in Ottawa as the MP of Prince George-Peace River-Northern Rockies.
At the time of publishing (9:45 p.m.), Zimmer had a total of 22,487 votes. The closest to him was Liberal Party of Canada candidate Mavis Erickson who had just 3,730 at the time but Zimmer wasn't completely shocked by the numbers.
"We've always had good support," he told PrinceGeorgeMatters after being declared the winner. "Usually battle it out with Ed Fast for the strongest Conservative riding in the province but I think the bittersweet part of it is that we didn't pull off the majority nationally."
Back in 2015, Zimmer saw another large victory where he finished with 27,237 votes, 52.52 per cent overall.
"We saw some colleagues that aren't coming back and some news colleagues too so there's positive there," he added.
The Conservatives didn't achieve their main goal of the election: win a majority which is something Zimmer said was a result of the Bloc Québécois earning a seat increase of 22 seats from the 2015 election which left them with a total of 32 tonight (Oct. 21).
"We've always been fighting to win," he said. "I think some unexpected was the Bloc rise. I think that hurt us and it affected other folks like Maxime Bernier as well but that was the surprise and some of the moments shifted and started shifting away from us."
Zimmer adds he's going to be keeping a watchful eye on what happens going forward with the Liberal government holding a minority and whether or not Trudeau will look for help to help them.
"It's not an automatic that the Liberals aren't going to listen to us," he said. "I think they have taken a position of support for Kinder Morgan and also support for the forestry industry, so we're going to be pushing them on that and we would be supporting that obviously to make sure that happens."
There is common ground when it comes to resources he adds, something he says they will ensure the Liberals follow through on."My main concern is our resource sector and getting our resources to market and what agreements are going to be made between the Liberals and the NDP to get that agreement to prop up the minority," Zimmer added. "And I'll be watching that closely in the next two weeks."
Liberal Party of Canada's candidate for the Prince George-Peace River-Northern Rockies, Mavis Erickson, was surprised by the defeat margin but acknowledged the riding has been a strong conservative hold while saying she was still proud of her campaign.
"It was a really, really good campaign and I think the northern towns really need a voice and I don’t really know what to say," she said.
Erickson also pointed to communities currently struggling with the forestry downfall in the north and said she doesn't think enough is being done.
"I think the northern communities are suffering with the forestry downturn and the forest industry and not enough is being done for their families, and diversifying the economy in the north so that people want to stay in the north," Erickson added.
In both the Cariboo-Prince George and Prince George-Peace River-Northern Rockies ridings, women candidates were dominant with three women running in Prince George-Peace River-Northern Rockies compared to two men while Cariboo-Prince George saw four women against incumbent Todd Doherty of the Conservative Party of Canada.
"I think people are wanting to listen and I think a lot of women voted for me, it slowly is changing I hope," she said.
- with files from Hanna Petersen, PrinceGeorgeMatters
