Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre won a landslide victory in the Battle River-Crowfoot by-election on Monday.
The by-election, which was called after former Battle River-Crowfoot MP Damien Kurek resigned from the House of Commons back in June, saw a record-breaking number of 200-plus candidates. Only seven candidates were affiliated with traditional political parties.
Poilievre ran in the by-election following the loss of his Ottawa-area seat to Liberal candidate Bruce Fanjoy.
The runner-up of the election, independent candidate Bonnie Critchley, received 5,013 votes, a stark difference compared to Poilievre’ received’s 40,000 votes. After Critchley, Liberal Party member Darcy Spady followed up with just under 2,200 votes.
Following the election results, Poilievre took to X to post a video of his winning speech, captioned “Back in the saddle.”
Prime Minister Mark Carney congratulated Poilievre on X.
“Congratulations to Pierre Poilievre on returning to the House of Commons,” he wrote, “and gaining the honour of representing the people of Battle River-Crowfoot in Parliament.” Carney also thanked all other candidates who ran in the election.
Sarah Spanier, who ran as an independent candidate and received 53 votes, called Carney “a class act” on Facebook.
During his victory speech on Monday, Poilievre said “this incredible region, and its amazing people, that have suffered terribly over the last 10 years,” claiming Liberal policies have sent crime and housing costs “spiralling out of control.”
“[Liberals] promised recently that things would be different,” Poilievre said. “But under Mr. Carney, and his 157 days in office, they’ve only gotten worse.”
“This fall, as Parliament returns, [Conservatives] will not only oppose out-of-control Liberal inflation, crime, immigration, cost of living and housing crisis, but we will propose real solutions for safe streets, secure borders, a stronger and sovereign country with bigger take-home pay for our people,” said the Conservative Party leader.
“We will put Canada first, and we will do so in a way that will make our country self-reliant, and make our people capable of earning paycheques that buy affordable food and homes in safe neighbourhoods,” added Poilievre.