Thank You!

Dear Friends,

Last night was a bittersweet night for me. Sweet, because after 4 and a half years in office, and after 11 weeks of hard work on the campaign trail, we won this riding and kept it Conservative in the face of a national Liberal electoral tsunami. Bitter, because we lost a number of good Conservative MPs and the government after Canadians decided that they wanted a change.

Democracy is a beautiful thing. You always get your say, but you don’t always get your way. Voters have chosen to give Justin

Trudeau and the Liberal Party a majority government, and have given the Conservative Party the important job of holding that government to account as Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition. It is a job that I will take very seriously as I represent you in Ottawa for the next four years.

It is an honour to have been re-elected – and I couldn’t have done it without the hundreds of faithful volunteers and donors and the thousands of supporters who went to the polls to cast their ballot for me. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

I dedicate myself to being the best representative for you that I can be, learning from the past four years and looking forward to the next four. As always, my primary responsibility is to be an effective voice for you and for the communities of Chilliwack and Hope, and I will work hard every day to take the common sense of the common people to the House of Commons on your behalf.

Conservatives can be proud of the legacy that we leave to the new government: a balanced budget, the lowest federal tax burden in over 50 years, the best country in the world in which to do business, new trade deals which will bring new opportunities to Canadians, a country secure in its place in the world because of the principled positions we have taken abroad, and a country more united than it has been in decades.

But, as Stephen Harper steps down as leader, there is also great opportunity for grassroots Conservative members to regroup and rebuild the party so that when we offer our platform to Canadians in the next election they will receive both the message and the messenger more favourably and we can present a strong, principled alternative to the new Liberal regime.

For those of you that took a lawn sign – thank you. We ask that you either store it until next time, bring it by our campaign office at 44550 South Sumas Road over the next 10 days, or return it to the local Conservative Party office at Unit 104 – 7338 Vedder Road in Chilliwack.

I’m looking forward to this next chapter, and thank you once again for your continued support. I look forward to the next time that our paths cross.

Sincerely,
Mark Strahl, MP
Chilliwack–Hope