Calgary stays Tory blue

Calgariansvoted in droves on Monday to continue the Alberta Tory dynasty, with all butfiveof the citys seats poised to go to Progressive Conservative candidates.

Despite widespread predictions that Alberta's largest city could be swept up ina green wave, Wildrose candidates wonjust twoof 25Calgary ridings.

Jeff Wilson took CalgaryShaw and in CalgaryFish Creek, Wildrose MLA Heather Forsyth a former Tory who switched to sit with the Wildrose in 2010 topped Progressive Conservative challenger Wendelin Fraser by just 74 votes.

CalgaryMcCall was a toss-up until the very end, with Liberal incumbent Darshan Kang finallybeatingWildrose candidate Grant Galpin by671 votes.

PremierAlison Redford handily won her riding of CalgaryElbow with over 56 per cent of the vote. Redfords Wildrose challenger, investment professional James Cole, finished in second place with 27.5 per cent of the vote. Liberal Beena Ashar came in a distant third.

Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi said he planned to work with the Tories to secure a strongfuture for the city and the province.

"Congratulations to Premier Redford, congratulations to all the candidates and all the volunteers from all the parties for making democracy great and for having a really exciting election," he said.

The Liberalskept two of the party's four seats in Calgary.

Former Liberal leader David Swann won his seat again in CalgaryMountain View, beating PC hopeful Cecilia Low by 43 per cent to 29 per cent.

And Liberal incumbent Kent Hehr was re-elected in the inner-city CalgaryBuffalo riding, besting his nearest rival, Tory Jamie Lall, by 41 per cent to 31 per cent of the vote.

Ken Hughes, the former chair of Alberta Health Services, won Calgary-West for the Progressive Conservatives with about 51 per cent of the vote. Wildrose candidate Andrew Constantinidis finished in second place with about 36 per cent of the vote.

In CalgaryHays, former Calgary alderman and 2010 mayoral candidate Ric McIver was successful in his bid to go to Edmonton as a Tory MLA. He beat Wildrose candidate Wayne Anderson by about 55 per cent to 36 per cent of the vote.

In CalgaryGreenway, PC Manmeet Bhullar defeated Wildrose candidate Ron Leech, who drewcriticism late in the campaign for saying he had an advantage as a Caucasian.A statement Leech made in 2004that to affirm homosexuality is an insult to Godalso became controversial.

Wildrose MLA Paul Hinman lost his CalgaryGlenmore seat to Tory challenger Linda Johnson. Hinman won thedistrict in a byelection in 2009, giving his party its first seat under the dome in Edmonton.

In the inner-city division of CalgaryAcadia, Tory candidate Jonathan Denis who was solicitor general in the Tory government narrowly defeated Wildrose candidate Richard Jones by 6,847 votes to 6,312 votes.

Jones had focused his campaign on pushing for the repeal of Bill 26, which tightened the restrictions against drunk driving.

CalgaryShawremained a battlegroundinto the early hours of Tuesday morning, with Wildrose candidate Jeff Wilson finally beating PC Farouk Adatia by 502 votes.

Former CTV news anchor Sandra Jansen won the riding of Calgary-North West for the Tories. Jansen was working as Premier Redfords communications manager when she won the riding nomination. Her closest rival was Wildrose candidate Chris Challis.