Shandi Bleiken came second to Rachael Harder in the 2019 federal election (Facebook photo)

By Justin Goulet

Bleiken proud of campaign team’s work, despite second-place finish

Oct 22, 2019 | 12:39 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Shandi Bleiken said there’s a lot to be positive about.

The NDP candidate for the Lethbridge riding in the federal election came second to Conservative Rachael Harder. Although Monday didn’t see a win for the NDP at both the federal and local levels, Bleiken’s head is held high.

“I am just overwhelmingly grateful that I got to have this experience. I learned so much and I feel like I am richer as a human being for it and I’m just really proud of the work that my team and I did. Really, all that I’m feeling right now is an immense amount of gratitude,” Bleiken told LNN on Tuesday.

The NDP representative had praise for Harder following the release of the results.

“I congratulate her on a race well run. I had a lot of fun at the forums. I feel like all the candidates got along and shared a laugh here and there,” she said, adding that the entire campaign was an “overwhelmingly positive experience”.

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This was Bleiken’s first foray into politics, and she plans to continue working to improve the lives of Lethbridge residents and people in southern Alberta.

“I’ll definitely continue supporting the party [NDP],” she told LNN.

“I said this from the beginning – I’ve been doing community organizing work in Lethbridge for years now and I’m not going anywhere, that’s not going to change. I’ll keep doing my thing and we will see what happens from here.”

When asked about Justin Trudeau’s minority Liberal government, Bleiken said she was proud of all the campaigns run across the entire country.

“It was fantastic to see some really powerful female voices be elected in different places in Canada and I’m really excited to see what the future holds,” she said.

“I just want to say thank you to Lethbridge and Lethbridge County for putting their trust in me. So many people gave me their vote and I’m very honoured to carry that trust forward and continue doing hard work.”

Rachael Harder finished with 41,580 votes while Bleiken earned 9,419.

In third was Amy Bronson of the Liberals with 8,642 votes, Stephnie Watson of the Greens with 1,999, Grant Hepworth with the People’s Party of Canada followed by Marc Slingerland of the Christian Heritage Party with 674 votes.

For more on the federal election, click here.