Dr. Robert Kitchen will carry the Conservative Party's banner in the Souris-Moose Mountain constituency in the next federal election.
Kitchen, an Estevan chiropractor and a long-time resident of the city, was chosen as the candidate following two days of nomination meetings. Tory supporters gathered to vote in Kipling on November 14, and in Weyburn and Estevan the next day.
Results were announced after the Estevan meeting.
Five other candidates were on the ballot: Randy Schiller of Weyburn, Lori Carr and Phil Zajac of Estevan, Michael Strachan of Torquay and Lyndon Dayman of Kipling.
"It was a long day," Kitchen said. "It was a challenge, with the day before in Kipling and then going to Weyburn and Estevan."
During the three nomination meetings, the candidates proffered their ideas during an opening statement. They answered prepared questions, and issued a concluding statement.
Then the voting began, where a preferential balloting system was utilized.
Party members assigned a "1" next to their top choice, a "2" for their second pick, and so on until they had a "6" for their least preferred candidate.
After the votes were tabulated, the candidate with the fewest number of votes was dropped from the ballot. Their No. 2 votes were distributed among the remaining candidates. Then the next individual with the lowest support was dropped.
The process was repeated until a candidate had more than 50 per cent support.
Kitchen declared his intentions for the Tory nomination back in November of 2013, becoming the first candidate to enter. The other five candidates announced in the first few months of 2014.
"I've been out and about all over the riding, I've met a lot of concerned and interesting citizens, and it's been a lot of fun," said Kitchen. "It's been challenging and tiring, and I've put a lot of miles on the vehicle."
The head start helped, he said. But it was a slow process initially, because people weren't thinking about the nomination process, or the next federal election, which isn't slated to happen until November of 2015.
Some of the issues that were brought up during the nomination campaign process were more provincial than federal, he said, such as the response to the flooding in the far southeast corner of the province in June. But he also heard a lot about the lack of movement of grain in the winter and early spring, and the future of pipeline projects that are needed to get more oil to market.
Kitchen said he made a lot of friends during the campaign, including the other candidates who wanted to win the nomination.
"Even though we were competing against each other, our views and thoughts are very similar," said Kitchen.
The other candidates were cordial in their interactions with each other, he said, and when they needed to make a decision, their opinions were unanimous.
A hard-fought nomination battle should help a lot when next fall's federal election begins, he said.
"I came into this without ever having done something like this before, so getting to know how the system works, and how to get about (have been important)," he said.
But there were some similarities between running for office, and his daily job. Listening is paramount, he said. He has to do his research, and formulate a plan.
Kitchen said he'll take a brief break from the campaigning, and get back to his business. Then he'll start work on the campaign for next fall's federal election, when he'll be facing opponents from the Liberals, the NDP and the Green Party.
"I've got a lot to learn, and I'm looking forward to the next year and learning those steps," said Kitchen.
He'll be tasked with keeping the constituency in Tory hands. A conservative has represented the riding since 1979, with the exception of 1993 to 1997, when Bernie Collins of the Liberal Party was the MP.
Conservative Ed Komarnicki has been the MP for the constituency since the 2004 election. He was re-elected in 2006, 2008 and 2011. In February of 2013, Komarnicki revealed that he would retire after the 2015 federal election.
In a press release that came out shortly after Kitchen's victory, Komarnicki said that with the strong Conservative support in the region, he is confident that Kitchen will become the next MP in Souris-Moose Mountain.
