Laila Goodridge had a good week.
The new Fort McMurray - Lac La Biche provincial constituency MLA-elect not only secured a solid win in the provincial election last Tuesday, but she also secured a new home, and a new relationship status.
"I got engaged, and got the keys to a new home this week too," said Goodridge, who cruised to a big win in the five-person race for the provincial Legislative seat. " I like doing a lot of things at once."
She's excited about all three successes, saying the house is on a street in Fort McMurray where she has wanted to live since she was young. She laughed when asked if the election win was the most important of the three — but was serious about her comnitment to all residents of the newly created riding. Goodridge, who won the UCP seat in the previous Fort McMurray-Conklin riding in a byelection last summer, was very pleased with the clear mandate she received last Tuesday from the majority of voters in her new riding.
She collected more than 9,000 of the 14,000 ballots cast in the five-person election race. According to the unofficial Elections Alberta results, Goodridge won in all but seven of the 64 polls for the constituency. In the southern end of the riding — an area she didn’t oversee before the new boundaries were created last year — she was the clear choice for voters. She sees the success as an indication that voters from the Fort McMurray region and the Lac La Biche region want to work together.
“There are a lot more synergies than people think between the two communities,” Goodridge told the POST following Tuesday night’s election results. “I will work for both communities to make the whole area stronger.”
Regional knowledge
Goodridge, 31, is no stranger to the Lac La Biche area, and said she spent more than half of her campaign time in the southern part of the riding. She has also been in the area working in her younger political years as a volunteer on former MLA and Wildrose leader Brian Jean's campaigns. She says she knows where to find her favourite cup of coffee in the Lac La Biche area — but agreed with a laugh that it shouldn't be printed in case it starts a coffee war. She buys clothing in Lac La Biche whenever she is passing through and is familiar with products in Plamondon and Wandering River. She knows the names of local business owners and is familiar with the favourite menu items from most restaurants. Naming several local retailers as she spoke about the importance of the local economies across her riding, she said it's not name-dropping — it is a real passion for supporting those local economies.
Sharing UCP leader Jason Kenney’s three-pillar mandate for jobs, the economy and pipelines, Goodridge also sees a significant opportunity to strengthen community-level business.
“I want to be part of bringing investment back to the northeast part of our province,” she said, explaining that spin-off from a stronger oil and gas industry will benefit many small businesses — but a renewed sense of community will help all main street and mom and pop businesses throughout the region. “As a community, we need to rally for our local, small and medium businesses.”
Realizing that consumer confidence in local shopping has to improve, Goodridge said she has spearheaded a Vocal About Local campaign in Fort McMurray that has shown positive growth. Speaking to retailers about their stock ordering, customer service and pricing has made a difference. It also helps if community members take a break from shopping online and visit their local stores. She would rather see community members spend a few more dollars with their local merchants than spending on Amazon.
"Fun fact — I don't buy anything online. I like to buy everything at brick and moretar store," she told the POST, explaining that her belief in the power of preserving the local economy is something she has held since she was young. “My mom had a business in Fort McMurray, and her sales were the difference between whether we went to dance classes or not."
She hopes to spread the ideas that have worked in the Vocal About Local campaign in Fort McMurray into the Lac La Biche and Plamondon areas.
Goodridge will be officially sworn into her new Legislative seat on April 30. She's looking forward to the tasks ahead and getting back on track after the election campaign.
“I’m rolling up my sleeves and getting back to work,” she said.
Big numbers
Voter turnout for the Fort McMurray- Lac La Biche constituency in the the April 16 election saw about 15,000 of the roughly 22,000 eligible electors — about 67 per cent — go to the polls. Of the total votes, Goodridge won with 66.3 per cent. The NDP's Jane Stroud was a distant second with 24 per cent of the vote. The Alberta Party's Jeff Fafard drew 852 votes for a 5.8 share of the ballots, while Mark Grinder took 1.8 per cent of the vote numbers. Lac La Biche's Brian Deheer, the Green Party representative received 1.8 per cent of the vote. More than 4,400 of the votes for the riding came in the advance votes.
Provincially, Jason Kenney's UCP party was the clear winner with 990,000 votes — 55 per cent — of the total provincial voter turnout of 1.78 million. The NDP drew 582,000 votes, or 32 per cent of the popular vote.
Of the total voter turnout, a record-setting 700,000 votes were cast in advance polls in the week leading up to the April 16 election day.
As of April 18, Alberta Elections had still not counted all ballots from the election, with their website claiming 7,239 of the 7327 polls had been counted. Unofficially, the UCP will form a majority provincial government with 63 seats in the Legislature. The NDP will be the official opposition, with their MLAs occupying the remaining 24 seats.
