Calgary-Greenway goes to the PCs as Prab Gill claims victory

Prab Gill's supporters erupted into dancing and cheering after a nail-biter in the Calgary-Greenway byelection last night, winning a crucial victory for the once mighty PC Party that might help fend off talk of a merger with the Wildrose.

"This is an exciting night for us. For me, for my family and for the PC party. This is huge," said Gill to loud cheers from supporters in a northeast Calgary banquet hall.

The real-estate appraiser beat the Wildrose'sDevinder Toor, his closest rival, by a335-votemargin.Toorconcededjust before 10:30 p.m.

• Follow along with live blogupdates from the night

The race was an important one for thePC party. The seatwas left vacant by MLA and former cabinet minister Manmeet Bhullar when he was killed on the QEII highwaylast year.

Bhullar was one of only 10 PCs who were left after Rachel Notley and the NDP won a majority in last May's election and ended more than four straight decades of ProgressiveConservative governments.

"When we started this race a few weeks ago, I knew that we had enough to win this and carry on the work our dear friendManmeetdid," Gill told the gathered crowd.

Opinion polls and pundits hadpainted the race as a tight four-way contest among the PCs, Liberals, NDP andWildrosecandidates, butitcame down to a fight between the two conservative parties as the night wore on.

The NDP candidate Roop Rai conceded after running third through most the night. In the end she came in behind Liberal candidateKhalil Karbani.

WildrosecandidateDevinder

Here is the look at the unofficial results from the top four candidates:

• PrabGill:2,292
• DevinderToor:1,957
• Khalil Karbani:1,870
• RoopRai:1,667

When asked earlier in the nightwhat this meant for the future ofunite-the-right initiatives in the province, interim PC leader Ric McIver said his party is the only one"lookingafter the money and looking after the people."

"I think we need to listen to the voters tonight and learn the lessons that they're trying to teach us all," he said.

Mount Royal University political scientist Duane Brattsaid this is a huge blow to any merger talk.

"I think if the NDP had won it, that would have moved the two parties together. I think if Wildrose had won it you'd see more PC people leaving to the Wildrose," he said.

"But nowI think you have two separate parties, one that's overtly conservative and one that's got a conservative wing and a progressive wing. And I think they're going to keep fighting it out."

Gill, speaking to his supporters, said many initiallydismissedthe PC party.

"When we started this byelection, people basically wrote us off.They said, 'Avote for PC is a waste of a vote.' We proved them wrong today, entirely."

He said friends would mock him when he said he was going to a PC meeting, asking if there still was a party.

"Guys, I hope you're listening tonight," he said."And it's only going to get stronger."

Unofficial results from Elections Alberta pegged voter turnout at 29 per cent, down from 41 per cent in the 2015 provincial election.