Conservative party leader Stephen Harper expressed personal disappointment with a minority win for the Liberals but pride in nearly 100 seats for the new Conservative party Monday night.
And he promised the voice of western Canada will be heard in the next parliament.
“We won’t give up the fight to ensure the voice of the West is someday heard and accepted in the corridors of Ottawa,” he told a Calgary crowd.
Harper’s pre-election dream faded when it became apparent early in the evening that he would not be the first Conservative prime minister since fellow Calgarian Joe Clark won a slim minority in 1979.
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Nevertheless, he promised the party would continue fighting for lower taxes, a stronger economy and international presence even as it serves as the official opposition.
“We will continue to fight for the principles, policies and the direction that we put forward in this election campaign,” he told about 1,000 cheering supporters at the Calgary Roundup Centre.
Newly elected Conservative Ted Menzies of the Macleod constituency was elated to become a rookie member of parliament. He replaced former MP Grant Hill, who retired.
“We reduced the Liberal government to a minority with a party that didn’t exist six months ago,” Menzies said. “We have nothing to be ashamed of.”
Still, the disappointment was obvious on the faces of party faithful as voter numbers rolled across the bank of giant television screens. Many shook their heads in disbelief and wondered aloud what it will mean for Tory blue Alberta.
Political analyst Ted Morton fears for the future of western Canada with this new government.
“This has the potential to isolate Alberta even more,” he said.
Campaign scare tactics involving a two-tier health-care system and quality of life issues may have turned the tide against the Conservatives.
“Ontario voters are easy to scare,” said Morton, a University of Calgary political scientist and Alberta’s choice for the Senate.
“The deeper problem is the structure. We have a 19th century constitution for a 21st century country. It still favours Ontario and Quebec.”
With the Liberals in a minority, Morton predicts they will align with the New Democrats. The NDP’s price for co-operation will likely be a carbon tax sold to the public as an environmental protection program, which would hurt the resource-rich West.
“I will predict within 12 months that there will be a carbon tax that will target Alberta and British Columbia,” Morton said.
Garnett Hammer of Olds, Alta., a farmer and president of the Wild Rose constituency association, said he thought frustration with the Liberals would show up more clearly at the polls.
“I thought the numbers would be more even,” he said.
As a feedlot owner, he was disappointed agriculture and the BSE crisis did not figure highly among voters.
“I don’t care who is in power. I want to see what they are going to do for me this summer.”
