The votes have been counted and Nathan Cooper will be representing the Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills Riding in the legislature.
This will be his second term in the Alberta Legislature having won under the Wildrose banner in 2015 where he won with 53 per cent of the popular vote. This time as a member of the UCP, he captured a convincing 78.6 per cent of the vote in the riding.
“It was an amazing night and I am super humbled by the support of the constituents of Olds Didsbury-Three-Hills and excited about what the future has in store for the province,” said Cooper.
While at times the campaign took twists and turns, he said the people in the riding were focused on the major issues.
“People wanted to talk about the big issues. They wanted to talk about jobs, the economy, pipelines. They wanted to be focused on those things and the other political parties focused on anything but that,” said Cooper. “When I spoke to constituents around the province that was the big concern they had, the government did not provide the direction that was right for our province.”
Kyle Johnson of the NDP came in a distant second place with almost 12 per cent of the vote, followed by Chase Brown of the Alberta Party. While the NDP support went down in the riding the Alberta Party saw its support more than doubled. Provincially, the jump was even higher.
“Even though we didn’t win a seat, when you look at the popular vote, we got 10 per cent. To be able to say one in 10 Albertans believed in the message and were willing to put their trust in that, and bought into what we were selling, is really encouraging,” said Brown.
He believes even more wanted to vote for the Alberta Party, however because of the polarization between the two leading parties, people voted strategically provincially.
“I think that hurt us a little bit but as a party, we can hold our head high with what we accomplished,” he said, adding he wishes the UCP and NDP the best in the coming four years.
“I want to congratulate Nathan Cooper. I have a lot of respect for him as a person and know he is going to represent the riding well,” said Brown.
This was Brown’s first election, and while he doesn’t commit to running again, he says he will remain involved in politics.
Cooper said one of his goals is to make sure agriculture is well represented in the legislature going forward.
“I think it is very important we have a strong voice for rural Alberta here in the constituency. I want to do everything I can to give our ag industry a strong advocate in Edmonton, I think that is something that has been missing for a number of years, certainly on the government side of the house,” he said. “I hope to advocate for rural Alberta broadly, but also especially our ag industry.”
