Success still evident although Aboriginal candidates did not win

Alberta’s five Aboriginal candidates in the May 2 federal election delivered an important message: Aboriginal people need to be heard.

“What a wonderful way of telling our children and grandchildren that you can become anything in this world, including running for politics,” said Bernadette Iahtail, worker on the Lewis Cardinal campaign.

New Democratic Party candidates, Cardinal (Edmonton Centre), Jeff Horvath (Wild Rose) and Jennifer Villebrun (Peace River), rode the wave of their party’s unprecedented success and finished second in their ridings.  Karen Young, Liberal candidate in Fort McMurray-Athabasca, also felt the national impact of her party, which was cut down and finished third in her riding. Scott Milton, carrying the Green Party banner in Calgary East, finished fourth.

An hour and a half after the polls closed, Cardinal walked into the Crowne Plaza Hotel in downtown Edmonton to cheers and accolades that he was the NDP’s rising star. Cardinal promised to be there four years down the road.
“I won in so many ways. The vote count is just one thing. But we’re very pragmatic. We were coming from nowhere. We had no money, we had no support base, some people didn’t know who I was. But now, today, everybody knows who I am and we have a large list of financial supporters and have an army of volunteers, an experienced on-the-ground team that is ready and poised for the next (election),” said Cardinal.

Cardinal garnered 12,634 votes to Conservative incumbent Laurie Hawn’s 23,552.

Terry Lusty, who also worked on Cardinal’s campaign, said “more advanced preparation (was needed). But it’s tough. Let’s face it. The Conservatives have a real strong vote in this province.”

As in the federal election three years ago, the Conservatives took all of Alberta’s 28 seats, except for one. NDP Linda Duncan retained her Edmonton-Strathcona riding in a strong showing.

Dave Eggen, provincial NDP candidate for Edmonton-Calder, was enthusiastic about the night’s results which saw the popular vote for the NDP more than double and the party earn the title of Official Opposition with 102 seats.

Eggen was pleased with the caliber of the three Aboriginal candidates the NDP had in Alberta.  “They have a bright future. I encourage everybody to participate more in democracy. That’s how you get what you want.”

Eggen, who worked side-by-side with Cardinal, is also familiar with Horvath.

“(Jeff) has a chance, if he chooses to build on that, the Métis and First Nations people choose to rally around such a fine person like that, the sky’s the limit,” said Eggen.

 Horvath placed a distant second to Conservative Blake Richards. Richards took the Wild Rose riding with 43,588 votes, while Horvath earned 6,603.

Villebrun garnered 7,740 votes in her Peace River riding, losing out to Conservative incumbent Chris Warkentin, who counted 36,374.

The riding of Fort McMurray-Athabasca, with one-quarter of its population Aboriginal, didn’t translate into one-quarter of the votes for Young. She finished with 3,230 votes to Conservative incumbent Brian Jean’s 22,546.

Speaking prior to the election, Young had high hopes, being the first candidate to get her signs out, hitting the smaller communities in her riding, and being invited in for tea, bannock and talk.

But it’s difficult to get the Aboriginal vote out, said Young.

“Our Aboriginal people don’t come out to vote. I asked them how I could get them to come out. They said the only time they see the candidate is when it’s election time. I’ve been through most of the communities five times,” said Young.

Encouraging Aboriginals to vote was also something Iahtail worked on with Elections Canada, hosting a workshop in Edmonton prior to the election. Workshop participation was poor, she said.

“I think the reason why is because I believe we just don’t realize the impact we could have…. For me I had a chip on my shoulder, but then I realized I need to voice my opinion to make sure that whoever is running or supporting us, needs to be elected,” said Iahtail.

In Calgary East, Milton took 2,047 votes to winning candidate Conservative Deepak Obhrai’s 23,372.

Despite the political stripes of the other Aboriginal candidates, Young said she was pleased to see that representation at the polls.

“If we could get one or two Aboriginal people in (Ottawa), it’s just one more step in the door,” said Young.
Seven Aboriginal people were elected, three more than held seats in the previous Parliament. The Conservatives formed a majority government with 166 seats and the Liberals dropped to 35 seats. Bloc Quebecois took four seats and the Green Party won its first seat ever.