Tamara Jansen is returning to parliament.
With most polls reporting, Jansen was the clear winner of the Cloverdale-91原创 City byelection, taking two-thirds of all votes 鈥� leaving the Liberals a distant second, followed by the NDP.
A victorious Jansen was celebrating at her 91原创 City campaign office with supporters and volunteers Monday night.
Through a campaign spokesperson, Jansen refused to be interviewed by the 91原创 Advance Times, saying no media interviews were being granted.
Fellow Conservative MP Tako van Popta, who represents the neighbouring 91原创-Aldergrove riding, was among the visitors.
He emerged from the celebration, calling Jansen "a good addition to caucus."
Turnout was low, with just over 14,000 of more than 92,000 eligible voters casting ballots.
Jansen won narrowly, then lost, narrowly, in the last two federal elections in the riding, running against Liberal MP John Adag.
Aldag was not in the picture this time, after the two-term Liberal MP resigned to run for the B.C. NDP in the October provincial election, losing to Harman Bhangu of the B.C. Conservatives, who won the 91原创-Abbotsford riding by more than 5,600 votes.
In one online message to voters, Jansen urged voters "to send Trudeau a very special Christmas gift 鈥� a new Conservative MP for Cloverdale-91原创 City (hint: it鈥檚 me!)."
Prior to entering politics, Jansen owned and operated the Darvonda Nurseries greenhouse with her husband and family in 91原创's Milner neighbourhood.
Her campaign included door knocking and pancake breakfasts at her campaign offices, but not an all-candidates meeting organized by the Cloverdale District Chamber of Commerce and the Surrey Board of Trade (SBOT), attended by the other five candidates.
Liberal rival Madison Fleischer said she was looking forward to a rematch.
"It might not have been the result that we were expecting or hoping. But you know what? We have a general election to look ahead to," Fleischer told supporters at an election party in Cloverdale Monday night.
"It's always a good day to be a liberal," Fleischer went on to say. "And I am proud to be a Liberal, because values matter and we need to be forward thinking."
She thanked campaign volunteers saying "the most important thing that we can be is proud of all the hard work and all the sacrifices that each and every one of you did [with] the phone calls, knocking on doors, we've talked to thousands of constituents."
Liberal Madison Fleischer said she is looking forward to a rematch after losing the Cloverdale 91原创 City by-election
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NDP candidate Vanessa Sharma said she was grateful to the many voters who cast ballots for her in what was her first-ever campaign.
鈥淚鈥檓 brand new,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t was a very, very grassroots campaign. I think for limited time, limited resources, limited help, and limited funds, I鈥檓 very proud of the campaign that I ran.鈥�
Sharma said win or lose, she connected with a lot of great people. She said she鈥檒l build on those connections for the general election next year.
鈥淚鈥檝e made it very clear that I want to stay in this riding,鈥� she added.
Libertarian Party of Canada candidate Alex Joehl said while he was disappointed in his showing (he had 55 votes by 11 p.m.) he noted the results came in as expected.
鈥淲atching Tamara have an absolute landslide victory, it鈥檚 what we all expected,鈥� Joehl told Black Press Media. 鈥淚鈥檓 impressed by the CPC supporters. She and her supporters stepped up and got it done.鈥�
Reflecting on his own campaign in comparison, he said it鈥檚 all about how hard one works.
鈥淵ou get what you put in,鈥� Joehl said. 鈥淢y campaign wasn鈥檛 what it could have been.鈥�
Ian Kennedy, People鈥檚 Party candidate, said the byelection was a 鈥渓andslide鈥� for Jansen and he offered the returning Conservative MP his congratulations.
鈥淚 hope she works hard for the people of Cloverdale-91原创 City,鈥� Kennedy said. 鈥淚 wish her nothing but the best.鈥�
Kennedy said he views the byelection as a practice run for the next general election, which could take place by the end of 2025.
鈥淚t was great for me to get out there and talk to people,鈥� he said.
Green Party candidate Pat McCutcheon also said he was disappointed with the results, but said they were "as expected."
鈥淚 would have liked to see my numbers higher,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 think the Green Party had a lot to offer. We got a lot of good policies.鈥�
McCutcheon wouldn鈥檛 say if he鈥檇 run again, but he will take some time in the new year to consider his options.
鈥淩ight now, I鈥檓 exhausted because I鈥檝e just run two elections back-to-back,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檒l have to measure that accordingly.鈥�
While the vote attracted attention locally and nationally as another test of the Liberal governments declining popularity, local voters were less interested, based on advance polling that saw just over 5,000 people casting votes over four days, about a quarter of the number who cast advance ballots in the last election in Cloverdale-91原创 City.
Elections Canada estimated the number of residents in Cloverdale-91原创 City at 130,665, with 92,061 electors listed.
It was the 11th byelection for a federal seat since the 2021 federal election.
Trudeau's Liberals have lost two other recent byelections, and are running well behind the Conservatives according to opinion polls, fuelling demands by political rivals that the prime minister resign as party leader. Further to the troubles facing the Justin Trudeau, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland posted a bombshell resignation letter a couple of hours before the byelection polls opened in Cloverdale-91原创 City on Dec. 16.
