Even with majority, UCP's Copping, Nixon and Milliken lose seats in Calgary
Danielle Smith's United Conservative Party won the election last night but the Alberta NDP made some inroads in Calgary, the city where most of the month-long campaign was fought.
When the dust settled on Monday night, Smith had defeated Rachel Notley's NDP by 11 seats.
The majority of the rural ridings went to the UCP and all of Edmonton went to the NDP, but Notley made some significant progress in the city of Calgary.
According to the unofficial results, the NDP captured 14 out of the city's 26 seats. In the 2019 election, the opposition won in just three ridings in Calgary.
PROMINENT MINISTERS OUT
Among the losses the UCP suffered in Calgary were Jason Copping, who served as health minister, Nicholas Milliken, Smith's minister of mental health and addictions, and Jeremy Nixon, the former minister of seniors, community and social services.
Devinder Toor, Jason Luan, Prasad Panda, Josephine Pon and Inder Grewal also lost their seats to their NDP competitors.
The long-vacant riding of Calgary-Elbow also went orange, with the NDP's Samir Kayande defeating Chris Davis of the UCP by less than 1,000 votes.
RECOUNT EXPECTED
There were also some races too close to call in Calgary.
A judicial recount has been ordered in Calgary-Acadia, where unofficial results show Tyler Shandro, Smith's justice minister, is behind Diana Batten of the NDP by just seven votes.
A riding just outside Calgary went orange as well, with the UCP's Miranda Rosin behind the NDP's Sarah Elmeligi by 199 votes.
That's short of the official Elections Alberta guideline to initiate a recount, but Rosin still could appeal the decision following the release of the official results.
Back inside Calgary, there were three other close races:
- In Calgary-North West, incumbent Rajan Sawhney defeated her opponent Michael Lisboa-Smith by just 149 votes;
- In Calgary-North, the UCP's Muhammad Yaseen edged his NDP opponent Rajesh Angral by 113 votes; and
- In Calgary-Glenmore, Whitney Issik was just 30 votes behind the NDP's Nagwan Al-Guneid.
The UCP won the election with 52.5 per cent of the popular vote, with 926,918 ballots cast in its favour.
The NDP earned 776,188 votes or 44 per cent of the popular vote.
The UCP says Danielle Smith spent 19 days of the campaign between May 1 and 29 in Calgary campaigning, making announcements and meeting with voters.
The NDP says Rachel Notley spent 22 days on the trail in Calgary between the same period, visiting 20 of the city’s 26 ridings.
(With files from Tyson Fedor)
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Orca calf that was trapped in B.C. lagoon for weeks swims free
An orca whale calf that has been stranded in a B.C. lagoon for weeks after her pregnant mother died swam out on her own early Friday morning.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
'I was scared': Ontario man's car repossessed after missing two repair loan payments
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
Powerful tornado tears across Nebraska, weather service warns of 'catastrophic' damage
Devastating tornadoes tore across parts of eastern Nebraska and northeast Texas Friday as a multi-day severe thunderstorm event ramped up in the central United States, injuring at least three people.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Trump's lawyers try to discredit testimony of prosecution's first witness in hush money trial
Donald Trump's defence team attacked the credibility Friday of the prosecution's first witness in his hush money case, seeking to discredit testimony detailing a scheme between Trump and a tabloid to bury negative stories to protect the Republican's 2016 presidential campaign.