Kenney gains seat to tackle Notley head to head in legislature after resounding byelection victory

Jason Kenney says his United Conservative Party is on track to defeat the NDP's "job-killing, socialist government" in Alberta's 2019 election, after a resounding victory in a provincial byelection gives him a legislative seat to directly take on Premier Rachel Notley.

The former federal cabinet minister defeatedtwo other provincial party leaders and four other candidates in theCalgary-LougheedbyelectionThursday night, taking more than 70 per cent of the vote.

Kenney'sseat in the legislature will let him go head to head with Notley for a year in the runup to 2019's provincial vote.

"Tonight sends a clear message that we are united, that we are stronger together and that if we stay humble and work hard, we are on track to defeat this job-killing, socialist government and to renew Alberta as a place of opportunity," Kenneytold a cheering crowd at his Calgary-Lougheedbyelectionheadquarters.

Notleycongratulated himon social media Thursday night bytweeting, "I look forward to debating you in the House."

NDPcandidate Phillip vanderMerwecame in second with 16 per cent.Alberta Liberal Party Leader David Khan took third with just under 10 per cent of the vote andGreen Party LeaderRomyTittelpicked up 60 votes, less than one per cent.

Reform Party candidate LaurenThorsteinsonracked up 137 votes while Independents Wayne Leslie andLarry Heather took42and 22, respectively.

Win hailed as proofthat uniting conservatives was right move

AnthonySayers, a political scientist atthe University of Calgary, saysthe next step forKenneywill be to unify his caucus a task that might be easier said than done in the new, unified conservative party.

"There are bruised egos, and egos, and historically quite big differences in the political preferences of the people currently in caucus," he said.

SayerscalledKenney'sresounding win a "proof of concept moment" evidence that it was the right move to unite the right into one conservative party.

Byelection marksKenney'sfourthbig victory in 9 months

It's the fourth big victory in less than a year for Kenney, a long-time Calgary Conservative MP and cabinet minister under former prime minister Stephen Harper.

Heleft federal politics last year on a mission to oust RachelNotley'sNDPgovernment by dissolving the Progressive Conservatives and merging with theWildroseto uniteAlberta conservatives.

In March, he wonleadership of the Progressive Conservative Partyin the first ballot in what some PCs decried as a hostile takeover.

Then in July, his vision become reality when 95 per cent of AlbertaWildroseand Progressive Conservative Party members voted in favour of ratifying an agreement to join forces andform the new United Conservative Party.

On Oct. 28, Kenney was elected leader of theUCPwith61.1 per cent of the vote, compared to31.5 per cent for top rival and formerWildroseleader Brian Jean.

Riding has been held by conservative since its creation

Thehistorically conservative Calgary-Lougheed riding has been held by a member of the Progressive Conservative Party since it was created in 1993.

It became vacant when MLA Dave Rodney stepped down to allow Kenney a chance to run for the provincial seat.

Elections Alberta used automated vote tabulators for the first time in the province for thisbyelection.

The new technology meant the finaltally was revealed less than an hour after the polls closed.

Only 35% of voters turned out

Unofficial numbers from Elections Alberta show 10,852 people voted in the byelection just over 35 per cent of Calgary-Lougheed's30,023 registered electors.

That's down from the 51 per cent voter turnout in the 2015 election.

Van derMerwesaid with voter turnout being so low, he doesn't see Thursday'scontest as a victory or a loss.

"The voter turnout was around 30 per cent, which still tells me that there's so many voters out there that are disengaged, disenfranchised and not engaging in the process of democracy, and that concerns me," he said.

The Alberta Liberal's nine per cent of the vote was an increase from the 2015 general provincial election, where the party's candidate, Leila Keith, got only 4.8 per cent of the overall vote.

Khan said the turnout makes him optimistic about the party's future.

"We really increased our vote share from 2015, so it's showing that we've got momentum and we're building this party and building to 2019," Khan said.

• MORE ALBERTA NEWS | Albertans carry the most debt relative to their assets, Statistics Canada says
• MORE ALBERTA NEWS|Calgary businesses hurt by multiple financial burdens, chamber of commerce says