By Ashley Legassic

MCLEOD WINS

Incumbent MP McLeod re-elected in Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo

Oct 21, 2019 | 8:28 PM

KAMLOOPS — After months of a competitive campaign, Conservative Cathy McLeod prevailed over experienced Liberal candidate Terry Lake and the other MP hopefuls in the Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo.

Right from the start when votes began to be counted, polls projected the incumbent MP as claiming the riding.

This will be McLeod’s fourth term as MP. The victory was hard fought, after facing a challenge from Lake, who brought years of municipal and provincial experience to the table.

The local candidate pool was large, with seven candidates to choose from. Eventually, most made their way to McLeod’s headquarters shortly after results started coming in.

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With a minority Liberal government decided, McLeod feels that reflected the dissatisfaction Canadians had with the way a majority Liberal government had run the country.

Moving forward, McLeod’s first order of business will be navigating the new parliamentary set-up, and advocating for the issues Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo residents highlighted leading up to Monday’s results.

Despite running a strong campaign, Lake wasn’t able to unseat McLeod.

There was a buzz of excitement as Lake and his supporters gathered to watch the election results come in.

No stranger to election night, the former provincial health minister was feeling optimistic, and as the first polling stations reported, a hopeful cheer erupted from Liberal headquarters.

As more results came trickling in, Lake fell behind the Conservative. Shortly after 9:00, Lake conceded.

For Lake’s supporters, the loss was naturally a disappointment.

Kamloops has been a Conservative stronghold for the past 15 years. Betty Hinton served three terms as MP from 2000 to 2008 — first with the Canadian Alliance, and then the Conservatives.

Prior to Hinton being elected, New Democrat Nelson Riis served three terms as MP from 1988 to 2000.