By Dori Modney (@Dori_Modney on Twitter)

By-election win for Glen Motz cements Conservative hold on Medicine Hat Cardston Warner

Oct 25, 2016 | 12:13 AM

MEDICINE HAT –  Thinking positive did not pan out for Justin Trudeau.   While the Prime Minister predicted last week that his Liberal party would be able to recapture the southern Alberta riding of Medicine Hat Cardston Warner in Monday’s by-election, it was not to be.  In fact, it was a runaway win for the riding’s reigning Conservatives.

The by-election was called after the unexpected death of former Tory MP Jim Hillyer, who died in his Ottawa office this in March of this year.   The Liberals have not held the riding in nearly half a century.

Final polls showed Motz maintained about 70 per cent of the vote throughout the polls, while numbers for Liberal candidate Stan Sakamoto hovered around 25 per cent.

The MP elect can certainly boast that his background has him well-placed to serve the riding in Ottawa.  His entire career has been one of service.

Motz was born and raised in south-eastern Alberta and began a career in policing with the Medicine Hat Police Service in 1980. His career afforded an impressive number of leadership roles, with Motz accepting the rank of Inspector in 2007, and becoming part of the Executive Team in the Office of the Chief and providing leadership for all the Police Service’s divisions. After a 35-year career in policing, Motz retired from the service in December 2015.

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In terms of community involvement, Motz’s bio notes that “he served on the Board of Directors for Big Brothers/Big Sisters; was a Big Brother to a fatherless boy; worked with Block Parents and the Youth Safe House; helped as an assistant coach for minor hockey and high school basketball; served on the Board of his local church; volunteered at Eagles Nest Ranch for 10 years and the Board of Directors for several years; and participated in the Medicine Hat Basketball Officials Association for many years. Over the past five years he has volunteered with the Medicine Hat Women’s Shelter Society; served on the local Housing First Steering Committee; is currently the vice-chair on the Board of Directors of the Medicine Hat Community Housing Society.”

As the election numbers came in for the two front-runners (Motz and liberal candidate, Sakamoto), there were other numbers that caught the attention of political pundits and the media across the province.

Polling numbers for the ‘also ran’ candidates saw initial jockeying for third place between the NDP and Christian Heritage Party (CHP) candidates. When all was said-and-done, CHP candidate, Rod Taylor, captured twice as many votes as NDP candidate, Beverly Ann Waege.

The latter numbers left some to question, on social media, whether the low NDP poll numbers in response to increasingly negative views regarding the Provincial NDP, and if it might be a portent of reactions to come. That question won’t be answered until May of 2019.