By Scott Roblin & Hayley Ferguson

UCP candidates Barnes, Glasgo sweep Medicine Hat ridings

Apr 16, 2019 | 11:31 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – The United Conservative Party spoke of a blue wave crashing over Alberta, and on Tuesday night that happened both provincially and locally.

The UCP dominated the 2019 provincial election with a majority government, picking up 62 seats across the province compared to the NDP’s 25 seats.

Two of those wins came in the local ridings of Cypress-Medicine Hat and Brooks-Medicine Hat, with a mentor and his protégée elected to serve.

Drew Barnes will serve another term as MLA for Cypress-Medicine Hat, winning with a whopping 67 percent of the vote in the riding.

He’ll be joined in Edmonton alongside his former press secretary Michaela Glasgo, who surpassed 10,000 votes and earned 60 percent of the popular vote to be elected in Brooks-Medicine Hat for the first time.

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Reflecting on his campaign, Barnes said winning by that large of a margin was incredible humbling.

“Very overwhelming, very rewarding to have so much support from Cypress-Medicine Hat people,” said Barnes. “So pleased that Michaela had such a strong showing as well, I’m so looking forward to working closely with her.”

It’s Barnes’ third time heading to Edmonton, but his first with the United Conservative Party after two straight wins with the former Wildrose Party.

Barnes said this win was made even mores special knowing he’ll have a greater impact on the government and his constituency.

“It feels special to actually be part of forming government and actually having an opportunity to get our values and needs a little higher in Edmonton,” he said. “But, I’m so grateful to have represented Cypress-Medicine Hat in 2012 and 2015 as well, and I’m just looking forward to a lot of hard work.”

Over the course of the 28 day campaign, Barnes touted the UCP’s platform that focused on the economy and knocking down the deficit in Alberta.

This included plans to scrap the carbon tax on the first day of office, along with balancing the provincial budget by the end of the term in 2023.

Barnes also said the plan to cut the provincial corporate tax rate from 12 percent down to eight percent will help restore jobs to the Medicine Hat area.

“When you look at the investment that’s come here, when you look at how good our people are, our wide-open spaces,” he said. “We have a lot of advantages and we should use our competitive advantage. But to be clear, we can’t sit back and wait either.”

Coming into her first election as a candidate, Glasgo was optimistic that with the out pour of support the UCP received throughout the campaign, she would be able to win the Brooks-Medicine Hat seat.

The Brooks-Medicine Hat riding was one of the first ridings to be called and even Glasgo couldn’t help but admit that she was surprised just how quickly she was named the winner.

“I expected it to be a lot closer. I know my team worked really hard and I know not all the ballots are counted so I don’t want to get too excited, but at the same time this is such an experience.”

Glasgo, who was born and raised in Medicine Hat, also admitted that it was tough to ingrain herself into a new community in Brooks.

“It was hard sometimes. I mean let’s face it I’m young so there was a little bit of doubt about that and with the one-to-one interaction and with my team, we kept talking to people.” She said. “We kept showing them just what I can offered and what a united conservative government would mean to a constituency like Brooks-Medicine Hat. That, or all intensive purposes been called a forgotten corner. We gave them an opportunity and we gave them hope.”

The pair are expected to be sworn in as MLAs in the coming weeks.