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Jason Nixon named next MLA of Rimbey-Rocky Mountain Houes-Sundre

There were no surprises as the UCP swept the rural riding Tuesday night
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Jason Kenney and his United Conservative Party won the majority government Tuesday night. The UCP swept the polls in rural ridings as well as many in urban ridings in Calgary. File photo

There was a lot of excitement in the United Conservative Camp Tuesday night as many of their candidates swept the election, including Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre incumbent Jason Nixon.

Nixon was the popular choice among constituents, and was being hailed the next MLA for the riding a little more than an hour after the polls closed Tuesday night.

“It went a lot faster than last time,” said an excited Nixon in a phone interview, Tuesday.

On Wednesday morning 81 out of 83 polling stations had reported their numbers and Nixon had nearly 82 per cent of the vote.

The last count received before publication was 18,985 votes in his favour.

Nixon said he is very excited about returning as MLA in the riding, but mostly he is humbled by the support the riding has shown him.

“I want to say thank you, and I am very humbled,” he said, his voice tinged with excitement.

“I just want to say thank you and I will always fight for them … the people!”

Of his amassed 19,000 votes roughly 600 individual votes came from the people in Eckville, according to Elections Alberta.

On Twitter, Nixon called his position as MLA a privilege, and thanked the voters for the chance to once again represent them in legislature.

Nixon will be joined by many fellow UCP members in Legislature as the party swept the rural ridings across Central Alberta and the province.

“I look forward to standing up for my constituents and for all Albertans alongside my United Conservative colleagues. We will fight for jobs, pipelines and the economy. We will work hard to get Alberta back on track,” Nixon said on Facebook.

UCP Party Leader Jason Kenney was also elected in a landslide win over incumbent Rachel Notley.

At his victory party Kenney told a huge crowd that April 16 was a great day for the Province of Alberta.

“Today our great province has sent a message to Canada and the world that Alberta is open for business,” he told the crowd.

Kenney and the UCP won the province over on their platform of creating jobs, jobs and more jobs in the province through the re-energizing of the oil and gas sector.

He says he promises the people of Alberta that he will fight for them to get pipelines built and to take on any who may oppose Alberta’s oil and gas.

“On April 16 we start with Rachel Notley and in October we end with Justin Trudeau,” Kenney said at a rally just outside Sylvan Lake before the election.

The UCP also hit home for many voters with the promise to abolish Alberta’s carbon tax and to fight the federal government on instating their own.

They also promised to “turn off the taps” to British Columbia should they continue to impede the construction of the Trans Mountain pipeline.

Attention will now turn to the spring-summer session of Legislature where Kenney promised near sweeping changes as soon as he is sworn in.

-with files from Canadian Press