1)Pierre Poilievre wins Alberta byelection, regains seat in House of Commons

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Fakiha Baig, Aug. 18, 2025

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre secured a seat in the House of Commons late Monday with a crushing byelection win in the rural Alberta riding of Battle River—Crowfoot.

He was leading with about 80 per cent of votes as results came in throughout the night.

“Getting to know the people in this region has been the privilege of my life,” Poilievre told a crowd at a victory party in Camrose, Alta.

“In fact, I’ve had a hell of a lot of fun.”

The riding was left vacant shortly after the spring general election, when Conservative Damien Kurek stepped down to make way for the party leader.

Poilievre had been elected in the Ottawa-area riding of Carleton seven straight times but lost in April to Liberal Bruce Fanjoy.

Poilievre thanked Kurek on Monday for his “gracious sacrifice” and promised to be a “humble servant” for those in Alberta.

“I really love the people of Battle River—Crowfoot,” Poilievre said, reminiscing about his time during the byelection campaign at rodeos and once being offered a bag of beef jerky from a stranger in a parking lot.

“They’re the kind of what you see is what you get, give you the shirt off their back, tell it like it is, common sense people.”

Poilievre got teary-eyed during his speech and said people in the community also reminded him that “the road to success is never a straight line.”

“Most of all, you should never give up in hard times,” Poilievre said before stepping offstage, as Journey’s rock anthem “Don’t Stop Believin'” played in the room.

Kurek introduced Poilievre at the celebration as “the guy who will be Canada’s next prime minister.”

Kurek said the Liberals’ federal election win was heartbreaking and he thought giving up his seat so Poilievre could represent the region would be a gift.

“Our issues will be raised on the national stage, because we have a national leader representing us whose fierce dedication and commitment to bringing a megaphone to this region is unmatched,” Kurek said.

“We have a fighter in Pierre Poilievre.”

A record 214 people were on the ballot, most of whom were part of a protest movement called the Longest Ballot Committee, which is pushing for electoral reform to replace the first-past-the-post system.

The group also targeted the Carleton riding in the general election, when there were 91 candidates on the ballot with Poilievre.

Because there were so many more candidates for Battle River—Crowfoot, voters were required for the first time ever to write the name of their preferred candidate on a blank ballot. Thick, coil-bound booklets listing the candidates were available at voting stations.

Stacey Martin, who lives in Camrose, lined up to cast her ballot in the final hours of voting. She said she voted for Poilievre because he’s “the best one to represent us.”

“I think it’s going to come out Pierre, because I think that’s what everybody wanted to start with,” Martin said, adding that Western Canada has “no say” and needs someone to represent their beliefs and values in Ottawa.

The sprawling eastern Alberta riding, stretching from Edmonton to Calgary, is considered one of the safest Conservative seats in the country. The Tory leader was expected to win by a large margin.

Conservatives have won the riding in every election since 2004 with at least 80 per cent of the vote, said Julie Simmons, an associate professor with the University of Guelph in Ontario. The one exception was Kurek, who got 71 per cent of the vote in 2021 but won in April with 83 per cent.

Lori Williams, a political science professor at Mount Royal University in Calgary, said Poilievre needed to win the riding “decisively,” as he faces a party leadership review in January.

Poilievre was up against a few vocal challengers, including Independent candidate Bonnie Critchley, who trailed a distant second in voting results.

The military veteran described Poilievre as a parachute candidate who only wants to represent the riding for his political career. Poilievre was born and raised in Calgary but has lived in Ottawa for the last two decades.

Delphine Doerksen said she voted for Critchley because she’s an “awesome” candidate who lives in the area.

“I don’t think Poilievre is going to represent this riding. He is just here to get a seat in Parliament, basically. And I don’t think we’ll see him again,” she said.

Other candidates included Darcy Spady, from the energy sector, for the Liberals and Katherine Swampy, a former band councillor for Samson Cree Nation, who ran for the NDP.

Also running was Libertarian Party candidate Michael Harris, who ran on a promise to push for a referendum on whether Alberta should separate from Canada.

— With files from Catherine Morrison in Ottawa

2)Byelection day in Alberta with 214 candidates, including Poilievre

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Fakiha Baig, August 18, 2025

Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and 213 others vying for a seat in the House of Commons will be in the spotlight Monday, as voters in a rural Alberta riding head to the polls.

Two political science professors say Poilievre is expected to handily win the byelection in Battle River-Crowfoot, a sprawling eastern Alberta riding stretching from Edmonton to Calgary. The riding and its previous incarnations have been a Tory stronghold for a century.

They say the only question is: by how much?

“In every election from 2004 to 2025, the vote share garnered by the Conservatives’ winning candidate has been at least 80 per cent,” said Julie Simmons with the University of Guelph in Ontario.

The one exception was in 2021, when Conservative incumbent Damien Kurek got 71 per cent of the vote, largely due to the right-wing People’s Party of Canada eating up some of his votes, Simmons said.

“This is just certainly an exceptionally strong riding for the Conservative Party,” she said. 

Lori Williams, a political science professor at Mount Royal University in Calgary, said Poilievre needs to not only win the riding but do it “decisively,” so electors can trust he’ll be a good Opposition leader and pass his January leadership review.

“He absolutely needs to sail over this hurdle,” she said.

“But if he clears this one, he’s then got to clear the, ‘How am I going to be an effective Opposition leader in this climate? How can I be pro-Canadian and critical of the government?'”

The byelection was called in June after Kurek, who won the seat again in the April general election with 83 per cent of votes, stepped down to allow Poilievre to run.

Poilievre lost his long-held Ottawa-area seat to Liberal Bruce Fanjoy.

Simmons said if Poilievre sees less than the average percentage of votes Conservatives have received in the last few elections, it could be because of vocal challengers like Independent candidate Bonnie Critchley.

The military veteran has described Poilievre as a parachute candidate who only wants to represent the riding to progress his political career.

Poilievre was born and raised in Calgary but has lived in Ottawa for the last two decades.

A majority of the candidates on the ballot are part of the Longest Ballot Committee, a protest group calling for various changes to Canada’s election system. They could also put a dent in Poilievre’s vote share, Simmons said.

“For some people, this might be a protest vote against the Conservative Party,” she said.

Other candidates include Darcy Spady, from the energy sector, for the Liberals. The NDP’s Katherine Swampy is a former band councillor for Samson Cree Nation.

Also running for the seat is Libertarian Party candidate Michael Harris, who wants to win so a referendum over whether Alberta should separate from the rest of Canada can make headway.

Thick coil-bound, 32-page laminated booklets listing the record 214 candidates are to be available at voting stations.

Elections Canada has said, for the first time ever in Canadian history, it’s using a blank ballot because there are too many candidates to put on the piece of paper.

Voters won’t be marking a box with an X. Instead, they must handwrite the name of their preferred candidate in a blank space.

If a voter misspells a candidate’s name, Elections Canada said it will still be counted.

More than 14,000 people out of almost 86,000 registered voters cast their votes in advance polls.

A spokesperson for Poilievre’s campaign has said the party leader plans to be in Camrose, the riding’s largest municipality, on Monday

Elections Canada said counting on election night is expected to take longer than usual.