The riding of Edmonton-Griesbach has flipped from Conservative to NDP in the 2021 federal election, as incumbent Kerry Diotte lost his seat to newcomer Blake Desjarlais.
The riding was too close to call on election night and Global News projected Desjarlais would win shortly before 10 a.m. on Tuesday.
As of 9:50 a.m., Desjarlais had 39.9 per cent of the vote.
According to his profile on the NDP website, Desjarlais is a Metis/Cree Two Spirit man who was born in Edmonton and was raised in the Fishing Lake Metis Settlement. He is the first openly Two Spirit MP in Canada’s parliament. He is also Alberta’s only Indigenous MP.
Diotte won the riding in 2019 with 51.4 per cent of the vote. During his time as an MP, Diotte served as a member of the parliamentary standing committee on human resources, skills and social development and the status of persons with disabilities prior to the 2021 election.
Before becoming an MP, Diotte was a member of Edmonton city council for one term beginning in 2010. Before that, he held a number of roles, including reporter and columnist with the Edmonton Sun and other news organizations.