Jeff Kibble has turned the Cowichan-Malahat-Langford riding Conservative blue.
With 298 of 300 polls reporting, Kibble had 27,912 votes (37.3 per cent), while the NDP’s Alistair MacGregor sits at 24,462 (32.7 per cent). Liberal Blair Herbert has 21,041 votes, and the Green Party’s Kathleen Code has 1,477.
"I am humbled by the support we've seen across the riding, and I hear, I see their pain and the suffering and the challenges that they face and my commitment is to represent them to the best of our ability here in the riding," said Kibble.
He said his focus has always been rebuilding the economy and bringing positive change to Ottawa "that will help our health-care system, help us fight crime, help those suffering with addictions, and help those struggling to feed their families, and that's what's really important to me."
He said the political landscape has changed significantly, and the Liberal minority government will bring some interesting times.
"It's all about building community and helping each other, whether it's neighbours helping each other or federal government policy helping the riding."
It was a night of mixed emotions for Kibble, whose strong local showing was tempered by watching Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre deliver his concession speech.
"He's a great speaker and his speech was very good, heartfelt, and he's still delivering the same message about Conservatives fighting for Canadians, so I really respected that," he said. "I think it was a bit of a surprise, I think to a lot of people in the room, including myself, but we'll have to see in the next few days how things play out. Still lots of pieces in the puzzle."
As the numbers rolled in at Bear Mountain Resort, where Kibble had his watch party, lifelong Conservative supporter and former Langford mayor Stew Young liked Kibble’s chances.
“It's going to be a tight race, we all knew that, so I'm hopeful that he'll win. We need to change out here, and Jeff's a great guy. He'll represent our community very well.”
Highlands resident and longtime Conservative supporter Al Pellett wasn't pleased with the national results that saw the Liberals projected to form the next government.
“I have been against the Liberals for a decade. I don't like what Trudeau did. I don't like anything about the Liberal Party. I don't like anything about their tricks and their dirty tricks," said Pellett.
“I was definitely hoping for considerable change … guess the way I'm feeling is if we end up with minority government, whichever party takes the lead, we could be back at the polls here in six to eight months or maybe a little bit longer.”
MacGregor was in North Cowichan at a watch party with a few dozen upbeat supporters watching the numbers roll in.
“I’ve never failed to be absolutely floored and humbled by the sheer number of amazing people that come out and work every single time, and this is no different,” said MacGregor, adding that being the riding's MP for nearly 10 years "was an honour that I will always treasure."
“I’ve called this place my home for the last 35 years – to represent the place and the people that I grew up in and surrounded myself around, it was amazing to be out there. We left everything out there, we truly did, no regrets. We did everything that we could."
Dropping to third early in the race, Herbert held an intimate watch party in Duncan.
"It was a good campaign. It was a short campaign, but a long campaign because we were running full out for five or six weeks," Herbert said. "I would recommend this to anybody to do this, really. This is the third time I've run, and it was a very positive experience, I find. When you're going around talking to people at the doors and the feedback that we're getting from the people at the doors is really actually very uplifting. So I'm glad I've done it."
Falling to fourth of four candidates, it was evident early that the Green candidate, Kathleen Code, was not in the race for MP, despite having many supporters.
"I'm not surprised at all," she admitted on election night. "I have to say I can't blame them. There was such consternation through voters who were afraid of a Conservative win in this particular riding, and a good many voters who would vote Green said they had to vote NDP to make sure the Conservative fellow did not win."
While she said she would have loved to have had a bigger vote share, she knows the support is out there.
"I've felt that everywhere I've gone and I've felt that online," she added. "We will continue to work through our riding association, and we'll continue to keep working for the citizens who hold dear the values of social and environmental justice."
Elizabeth May was the only Green candidate to win a seat, but Code thinks she'll still have an impact.
"I'm disappointed that there aren't more Greens, but Elizabeth May is such an incredible leader, and we certainly need her leadership in the years to come. She's pretty good at increasing her sphere of influence as part of the government, and we have a tremendous platform and a tremendous budget. I'm sure through her we'll make great contributions in government."
With a population of about 124,247, the riding is made up of voters in Langford, Highlands, Port Renfrew, Duncan and the Cowichan Valley. The seat has been held by NDP MP Alistair MacGregor since 2015.
