Conservative candidate, Earl Dreeshen will be returning as MP for the Red Deer- Mountain View riding. This election will be the incumbent’s most sweeping victory claiming 80.4% of the riding’s votes, or 54,111. The nearest second-place candidate, NDP Logan Garbanewski received 4,836 votes, or 7.2%.

67,277 out of 89,098 registered voters cast their ballot. That's a voter turn out of 75.51% for the riding of Red Deer-Mountain View.

Click here for the results from Elections Canada. 

With a Liberal minority government put in place, Dreeshen plans to hold the government accountable and eliminate further polarization of Canada’s political perspective.

“Quite frankly, we know how important it is that we help bring this country together and there’s been a lot of polarization happening in this last little while. Of course, we think that’s why it’s important for us to just continue to hold the Liberal’s feet to the fire,” explained Dreeshen.  

The candidate will also be working hard to ensure that Alberta’s industries are not ignored but strengthened and improved. Dreeshen found problems in the stance towards Alberta’s industry taken by the New Democratic Party and the Green Party and he would like to emphasize the importance of Albertan industry on a global level.

“There are people that are looking at our natural resources saying they think that we shouldn’t be developing them. Quite frankly, when you look at the global picture, that is so short-sighted and if we want to have all the good things, hospitals, education, good social safety net, then we have to look at the resources.”

Of all issues discussed during this campaign season, Dreeshen identified healthcare as the issue that is at the forefront in the minds of Central Albertans.

“We felt that one of the things we were bringing in was 1.5 billion dollars to go towards MRIs, cat scans, and new types of diagnostics. Equipment is something that the federal government can actually do because we don’t control healthcare spending and that might be the start of alleviating some of the stress that we see in hospitals. Again, giving all the provinces—because they are still getting money from the federal government—we’re committing that they still would get all the money that they would have had in the past.”

After being MP for three years, two years in the Red Deer riding and one year in the Red Deer-Mountain View riding, Dreeshen is confident about heading forward with quite a bit of experience under his belt and plans to make changes.  

“I have had a lot of experience in a lot of different areas. I am certainly comfortable with the agriculture file; health as well is something that I am quite familiar with, and I have done a lot of work on trade. So those are critical parts. It’s going to mean that we will have to look for relationships with other countries and because it’s so important that we are able to manage our natural wealth and that’s I think really where we have to go and that way we can show people just how important it is to have strong leadership.”

The candidate was not entirely impressed by the national outcome of the election but promises that the conservatives will not be ignored in parliament and that Albertans are not overlooked.

“We’re frustrated but we will continue to work hard. We are there because we love our country and we want to look after the people in our regions and we will just continue to work hard.”

The Red Deer- Mountain View riding is made up of parts of the towns of Innisfail, Bowden, Carstairs, and Sundre, as well as Mountain View County, parts of the City of Red Deer and Red Deer County that are south of the David Thompson Highway.

In the 2015 election, Conservative Earl Dreeshen won with 74% of the votes.

Having represented the area since 2008 when it was known as the riding of Red Deer, Dreeshen has won each time with at least 70% of the votes.