Rosemarie Falk was reelected in the Battlefords-Lloydminster Sept. 20 federal election. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By battlefordsNOW Staff

Federal Election 2021

Conservative Rosemarie Falk declared winner in Battlefords-Lloydminster race

Sep 20, 2021 | 10:13 PM

Conservative incumbent Rosemarie Falk successfully retained her seat in the Battlefords-Lloydminster riding in Monday’s election.

With 130 of 137 of the polls reporting, Falk was declared a winner, gaining 69 per cent of the preliminary vote count.

Coming in second was the NDP’s Erik Hansen with 12 per cent; followed in third by the Maverick Party’s Ken Rutherford picking up seven per cent.

Trailing them were the People’s Party of Canada candidate Terry Sieben garnering six per cent; the Liberal’s Larry Ingram with five per cent, and lastly the Green Party’s Kerri Wall receiving one per cent.

Due to the new COVID-19 restrictions now in place, Falk’s campaign decided against having any gathering on election night this year.

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Falk continues the Conservative’s 24-year hold on the riding. Falk was first elected in a federal by-election in Dec. 2017, after previously winning the candidacy when long-serving Tory MP Gerry Ritz announced his retirement. Ritz held the seat since 1997. In the 2019 election, Falk won with over 79 per cent of the vote.

When reached by battlefordsNOW after Monday’s win, Falk said she is eager to get back to work serving as a voice for the riding.

“We have been watching the results closely not only locally in the riding but also nationally, and whatever the results end up being this evening, I definitely look forward to going back to Ottawa to fight on behalf of the constituents that live in Battlefords-Lloydminster,” she said.

Falk credited her success to active campaigning with her team.

“We worked very hard to get to as many parts of the riding as we could in a very short writ-period of only 36 days,” she said. “We tried to connect with as many voters as possible. So it is exciting to see the results come in.”

The NDP’s Erik Hansen, finishing second in the preliminary vote, said he was pleased with the campaign.

“Actually it went pretty good,” he said. “I had lots of conversations out on the doorsteps, and we were able to agree with a lot of things in common between the parties at the grass-roots level. As far as I’m concerned, the NDP is at the beginning of a growth spurt in Saskatchewan.”

Third place winner in the preliminary vote, the Maverick Party’s Ken Rutherford said he would have liked to have more votes, but believes there’s an opening to grow support in the future, after Western voters grow tired of the Trudeau government.

“I think a lot of people were hesitant to vote Maverick because they could split the Conservative vote,” he said. “They’re thinking maybe O’Toole just needs that one extra seat. Now, with the West continuing to not have a voice in Ottawa, we will win a lot [of seats] next time around.”

On whether he would return to politics or not as an MP candidate, Rutherford said he would have to wait and see.

“I enjoyed it, it was wonderful. I learned a lot and met a lot of good people,” he said. “I’m definitely behind the Maverick Party. Whether as candidate or not, we’ll see.”

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angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW