Former Ward 5 councillor George Chahal is now Liberal Member of Parliament George Chahal after a decisive victory over his incumbent Conservative opponent Jag Sahota in Calgary-Skyview.
Conservative candidates firmly won the remainder of the city’s 10 electoral districts despite reduced vote share compared to 2019 results. Greg McLean retained his incumbency in Calgary-Centre after winning the riding in 2019 against Liberal MP Kent Hehr.
Across all electoral districts in Calgary, the Liberals, NDP, and People’s Party of Canada saw increased percentages of vote share.
Calgary-Skyview saw the biggest swing in results, going from 28.3 per cent of the vote for then-Liberal candidate Nirmala Naidoo to 42.7 per cent for Chahal. Sahota saw her vote share drop to 35.6 per cent from her victory in 2019 with 52.5 per cent.
Federal NDP candidates saw their vote shares increase to between 15 and 18 per cent in all electoral districts from between nine and 15 in 2019.
The People’s Party of Canada likewise saw an upswell in support. Candidates saw an increase in average vote share, going from 1.9 per cent in 2019 to 5.2 per cent in this election.
Conservative Party candidates saw on average a 12.6 per cent decrease in their vote share in the city. One per cent less than the provincial average of 13.6 per cent.
People's Party Gains Popularity
The People’s Party of Canada picked up more than 15,000 extra votes in Calgary after heavy campaigning by candidates and repeated visits to the city by party leader Maxime Bernier. His last visit to Calgary was on Saturday at an anti-vaccine mandate rally. There he spoke to supporters about the PPC being the only party to promote freedom of choice.
“We want to unite all Canadians under the freedom umbrella,” said Bernier in a clip from the rally posted on his Facebook Page.
“We say no to lockdowns, say no to vaccine passports and yes to freedom.”
The message has resonated with conservative Albertans, drawing large crowds to PPC events across the province.
Overall, the party took in 25,320 votes prior to mail in ballots being counted.
Conservative Party incumbents lose ground
Calgary’s incumbent MPs took in more than 110,000 fewer votes overall for the Conservative Party than in 2019. The count of votes before mail in ballots was 290,620. Far less than the 405,208 were cast for the party in the 2019 election.
All of the Conservative candidates in Calgary remained over 40 per cent vote share, except for Sahota.
Calgary Forest Lawn MP Jasraj Singh Hallan saw the second highest level of vote share decrease. His share dropped to 44.5 per cent from 59.97 per cent in 2019. Tom Kmiec and Michelle Rempel Garner saw their vote shares decrease by 14 to 14.6 per cent, but both retained comfortable majority wins at 60.4 per cent and 55.7 per cent, respectively.
Calgary-Centre MP Greg McLean saw the smallest decrease in vote share at 4.94 per cent.
Municipal Election Ahead
Overall Calgary had a 62.3 per cent turnout of eligible federal voters in this year's election.
Calgary is set to go to the polls again on Monday, Oct. 18 for its municipal election.
In 2017, there was a 58.1 per cent turnout for that year's municipal election.
Overall the highest concentration of progressive votes in this federal election was in northeast Calgary. This Liberal Party win overlapped with wards three through five and into 10. City wards that saw the greatest increase in NDP support were in southwest Calgary, covering wards 11, 13, and 14.
Southeast Calgary has continued to show strong preference for conservative politics. That support overlapped wards nine and 12, with an overlap in the growth of NDP support in ward 14.
