Conservative Robert Sopuck re-elected in Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa

CBC declaresConservative candidateRobertSopuck has held onto the Manitoba ridingDauphin-Swan River-Neepawa. With all267 polls counted, Sopuck won with46.4per cent of the vote.

When asked for his reaction to the Liberal majority Sopuck said he remains proud of the Conservative's legacy in Ottawa.

"To govern is to choose. And we made some tough decisionsforthecountry," he said. "We balanced the budget, there's a small surplus - those are good things for the country, but there are vested interests that oppose what we did, and that's obviously their right to do so."

Trailing Sopuck inDauphin-SwanRiver-Neepawa is LiberalRayPich with 29per cent of the vote, behind him NDP candidateLaverneLewycky with 12per cent.

In the last election, Dauphin-Swan River-Marquette, electedSopuckwith63 per cent support.Runner-upCheryl Osborne of the NDP had 26 per cent of the vote.

As MP, Sopuckhas chaired the Canada-Ukraine parliamentary friendship group, anon-partisan group that advocates for positive relations between Canada and Ukraine. He also chaired the Conservative hunting and angling caucus also served as a member of the standing committee for environment and sustainable development and the standing committee for fisheries and oceans.

Sopuckwas first elected in abyelectionin 2010.He and his wife, Caroline, live on480 acres offarmland in theSandy Lake area.

Liberal candidate RayPichis a retired member of theRCMP. NDP candidateLaverneM.Lewyckyis a former MP for the area. He represented Dauphin-Swan River from 1980-84. Since then he has worked as an educator as an ordained minister.

Independent candidateInky Markis a political veteran. A former mayor of Dauphin, Mark held the title of Manitoba's longest-serving Conservative member of Parliament when he stepped down in 2010, after serving as an MP for 12 years. He has since rejected affiliation with the party and is presently an outspoken critic of Stephen Harper.

The electoral boundaries of Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa were redrawn in 2012 to include parts of Brandon-Souris and Portage-Lisgar. The majority of residents identify as Christian (73 per cent), and 4.9 per cent of residents speak an aboriginal language.

Voters had five candidates to chose from in the 2015 federal election:

• Laverne M. Lewycky, New Democratic Party;
• Inky Mark, independent;
• Ray Pich, Liberal Party of Canada;
• RobertSopuck, Conservative Party of Canada; and
• Kate Storey, Green Party of Canada.