Conservative incumbent Dave Epp in Chatham-Kent-Leamington.  (Photo courtesy of www.daveepp.ca)Conservative incumbent Dave Epp in Chatham-Kent-Leamington. (Photo courtesy of www.daveepp.ca)
Chatham

Chatham-Kent-Leamington remains Conservative

Chatham-Kent—Leamington is staying blue.

Conservative Party of Canada Incumbent Dave Epp was re-elected as the MP for the Chatham-Kent—Leamington riding in Monday night's federal election.

Preliminary results from Elections Canada with 130 out of 272 polls show Epp with 40.1 per cent of the vote, Liberal Greg Hetherington with 29.5 per cent of the vote. NDP Dan Gelinas came in with 16. per cent, Green Party candidate Mark Vercouteren snagged 1.7 per cent of the vote, and People’s Party Liz Vallee received 12.7 per cent.

According to Elections Canada, the Chatham-Kent-Leamington riding has a population of 109,619 with 86,615 registered voters.

Following his victory, Epp thanked the residents, his family and the individuals who worked on his campaign as well as commending the other candidates in the riding and their campaign teams.

"I'm appreciative of the trust, the trust that I've inherited," he said. "Nothing has changed across this country is what it appears but I'm appreciative and honoured of the trust that's been placed on me. [On Tuesday] we get back to work."

Epp was first elected as the Conservative Member of Parliament for Chatham-Kent—Leamington in 2019, taking over for incumbent Conservative Dave Van Kesteren. He is a third-generation family farmer from the Leamington area, where he currently resides.

Epp acknowledged that there are "lots of issues" locally, and added that the political climate has changed drastically since he first took office.

"We need to heal a bit in our community," he said. "Certainly, with this campaign compared to the one from two years ago, I sense some of the hurt, the distrust in the community. We're a bit more polarized than we were. A bit is probably understating it. We need to listen, we need to go forward as much as we can together."

Meanwhile, in Lambton-Kent-Middlesex, Conservative Incumbent Lianne Rood is the projected winner.

Looking nationally, The Liberal Party is projected to win the federal election with enough seats to form a minority Parliament.

"When this election was called, we said it was an unnecessary election," Epp said. "I think the results proved that."

 

 

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