Yurdiga, an Athabasca County councillor, collected 46.8 per cent of the vote in the Fort McMurray-Athabasca federal by-election June 30, with Liberal Party candidate Kyle Harrietha coming in second with 35.3 per cent.
The Conservative Party's David Yurdiga has been elected as Lac La Biche's federal representative.
Yurdiga, an Athabasca County councillor, collected 46.8 per cent of the vote in the Fort McMurray-Athabasca federal by-election June 30, with Liberal Party candidate Kyle Harrietha coming in second with 35.3 per cent.
"I'm happy with the result. A victory's a victory," Yurdiga said. "I'm going to work hard for the community and the region and make it better for our families and our seniors."
Yurdiga will follow four-term Conservative MP Brian Jean, who resigned on Jan. 17. The riding has been held by the Conservatives or its predecessor parties, the Progressive Conservatives and the Reform Party, since it was founded in 1968. The Conservatives received the lowest share of the vote by a winner ever in the riding.
"At the end of the day, I've got my work cut out for me. I've got to prove myself to the community and I'm looking forward to doing it," Yurdiga said. "I tip my hat to Kyle and his team for putting the best foot forward, and in any by-election, low voter turnout can go either way."
Runner-up Harrietha said he was happy with the result, the highest vote share by a Liberal candidate in the federal riding since former Lac La Biche MLA Mike Maccagno's 40.48% second-place finish in 1968.
"I thought it was a tremendous result. Definitely the best result...since 1968," he said. "It just demonstrates the kind of optimism and support you can generate when you engage with voters door to door and face to face."
Harrietha, a former federal Liberal staffer and general manager for the Fort McMurray Metis, said that it was a good first outing for him as a candidate.
"It was a... privilege to have earned their support. I want to continue to work with those folks to continue to grow this movement for change and put an end to Northeastern Alberta being taken for granted," he said. "It was certainly a valuable learning experience for me, and it's been a tremendous privilege to get to know the people of Lac La Biche."
With 202 of 203 polls returned Monday night, Yurdiga collected 5,945 votes and Harrietha collected 4,491. The New Democratic Party's Lori McDaniel placed third with 1,449 votes (11.4 per cent), Green Party candidate Brian Deheer got 449 votes (3.5 per cent) and Tim Moen got 2.9 per cent and 374 votes. Turnout was 15.19 per cent, with 12,708 votes cast of 83,647 registered voters.
McDaniel, a heavy equipment operator in Fort McMurray, said the result wasn't a surprise, given low turnout.
"The Conservatives strategically put this election on a Canada Day long weekend on a Monday, (there's) historically lower turnout in by-elections in general, let alone at a time like this," she said. "I have a lot of support, I know there's going to be a lot of people that are like, 'oh my god, what happened?' And what happened is they didn't go vote, simple as that."
She said she got recognition in the campaign, and a good result even without the popularity the party enjoyed in 2011 under late NDP leader Jack Layton.
"It was amazing. I loved it. It was great, honestly," she said. "For me, on my own, not only being well known, I still got a very (good) percentage of the vote without the legacy and the power that Jack Layton brought to this party."
Deheer, a music instructor and student union administrator from Lac La Biche, said people thanked him throughout the campaign for allowing them the option of voting Green.
"I'm happy with the support I received," he said. "I think most of that came from here in this area... I know that there's a significant base of support for Green Party values."
Moen, the leader of the Libertarian Party and volunteer firefighter in Fort McMurray, said that it was a good introduction to politics for him.
"I'm fairly happy with it, actually," he said. "I was told when I started this process to expect maybe a half a per cent or a per cent (of the popular vote), shoot for a hundred votes. It's a lot of work trying to educate people."
Yurdiga said his victory was thanks to hard work. "I had a great campaign team, I was out and about every day," he said. "It's all about putting the effort in, and it's important, putting your best foot forward and doing the best you possibly can."
This will be the last election for the Fort McMurray-Athabasca riding, as redistribution will put Lac La Biche in the Fort McMurray-Cold Lake riding in the next general election, tentatively scheduled for October 2015. Yurdiga, Harrietha, McDaniel and Moen have all committed to running again, with Deheer saying he would be involved in the party in some capacity.
But first, Yurdiga will settle into his new job. While he said he's looking forward to his first day of work, he's ready for rest after a 49-day campaign.
"It's nice to sleep in my bed the last couple of nights," he said. "It'll be nice to relax, for the next couple of days or so."
