A Closer Look At Election Results

The Member of Parliament for Provencher has had a full week now to catch his breath following the eleven week marathon, also known as the federal election campaign.

Last week Monday, Ted Falk was re-elected by taking 56% of the votes. His nearest competitor, Liberal Terry Hayward had 34%. Falk's support was down slightly from the 2013 by-election which saw him take 58% of the votes.

After analyzing the numbers, Falk says the two per cent drop in support from 2013 to 2015 can probably be attributed to the boundary changes in his riding. Realignment saw Falk lose a portion of the west, including Rosenort and Morris; areas Falk says have traditionally been very strong Conservative. Furthermore, he says the strongest areas of support this election came from places like Steinbach and Friendensfeld.

"The communities surrounding Friedensfeld/ Steinbach, areas that I've worked and lived in all of my adult life is where I've enjoyed the strongest support," says Falk. "I guess that makes sense because these are the folks that know me and I have a track record with these people."

Falk says it would appear Conservative support in Manitoba dropped throughout the province. In comparing numbers from the 2011 and 2015 elections, Falk says their support dropped consistently between 20% and 22% in rural ridings. In urban areas they lost between 30% and 40%.

According to Falk, the Conservatives may have placed too much emphasis on their past performance, failing to cast an exciting and promising vision for the future.

"A lot of rear view mirror messaging as opposed to windshield forward looking," describes Falk.

Falk says he firmly believes the Conservatives have done tremendous work while in power the last ten years. But he says they may have been resting on those laurels a little too much.

"We should have been a little bit more enthusiastic and presented a better vision for people to actually get ahold of instead of just relying on our track record," he admits.

Falk says it is his assumption that within the next two weeks the Governor General will ask Justin Trudeau to form the next government. At that point it is widely speculated that Stephen Harper will step down as Conservative Leader. Following that, the caucus will elect an interim leader until a new leader is elected at a national party conference.

As for the next leader, Falk says he would like to see someone that has vision and subscribes to the values of the Conservative Party. He says there are fiscal Conservatives and social Conservatives and they need someone that has a good balance of both aspects. Falk adds it needs to be someone who can rebuild the party and get the team moving in the same direction again.

"One thing I heard frequently at the door, is that 'we're still Conservatives, we love what you've done, we still agree with all the policies of the Conservative Party, but we think it's time for a change'," says Falk. "Hopefully we can find a leader that will again inspire people to come along with the Conservative Party."

Falk says it will be very different heading back to Ottawa and now being part of the Opposition. But he says this will create a new set of opportunities to build relationships with some of the newly elected Liberals.

"I'm looking forward to the new parliament," says Falk. "I still think we live in the greatest country in the world and we can do great things in parliament and we can do great things for Provencher."

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