Dalton pledges to advocate on crime, addiction treatment, as he enters his third term as MP for Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge 

On election night, Marc Dalton had a speech to give at 11 p.m. — before he knew the results. 

While it looked promising for the Conservative incumbent for Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge, he knew advance polls still needed to be counted.

“I said, ‘Listen, I’m putting a caveat that this could still turn,’” Dalton told The Ridge in an interview.

He didn’t find out until early afternoon the next day — April 29th — that he had won.

“I just want to express my appreciation to the electorate for giving me a third term as Member of Parliament, and I will work hard for all our communities, Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge and Mission,” he said.

Dalton said he felt relief after finding out he won.

“It is much more fun to win than to lose.”

Going into election day, Dalton had mentally prepared for whatever the result would be, because he knew that it was a tight election, both nationally and within his own riding. 

He said they worked hard, and he campaigned by door knocking, phone calling, attending debates, and using social media.

“I had a great team. A lot of young people, a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of people that might not have been engaged beforehand were volunteering for the campaign. And so it’s very encouraging,” he said.

Dalton won the riding with 31,556 votes and 47.4 per cent of the vote share, 1,426 votes ahead of Liberal candidate Angie Rowell, who got 45.2 per cent of the vote share.

He garnered about 12,000 more votes and about a 10 per cent increase in vote share than when he ran in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections.

“There was a lot of interest and passion in this election. And so that was good to see. And it was good to see that people that hadn’t been interested engaged in politics, they started to feel that it really mattered.”

A united front, crime, treatment centers, and healthcare

Going into his third term, Dalton said he and the Conservatives will work with the Liberals to “stand for Canada,” in regard to things like U.S. tariffs. 

“That said, that doesn’t mean that we have to agree with how everything is happening. As opposition, we add value. We can point out deficiencies. Because sometimes when you’re a party, and you only hear your own people, you start to drink your own bath water. You need to get those other perspectives.”

He said he would advocate on issues of crime, addiction treatment and recovery, and making it easier for people with foreign doctor and nurse qualifications to practise in Canada. 

When asked about how he anticipated working with Carney’s Liberals compared to Trudeau’s Liberals, he said: “I really am sincerely hoping that there will be some changes.”

“I want them to be successful in different respects, because I think it’s important for Canada, because we’re having a tough challenge, our nation. Young people do not have the opportunities they did before.”

He added that he hopes the Liberal government will “relax” some of their net zero policies, which he said “put a break on almost every segment of our economy.”

Dalton also said he hopes the Liberals “will have a government that everyone is united under,” saying he felt that the past Liberal government had “[used] different regions against another … whether East or the West, whether persons vaccinated, not vaccinated — just a variety of different separations rather than uniting.”

Overall, he is “very thankful to be in this role.” He noted that his office is non-partisan, and is there to serve the riding, whether someone voted for him or not.

“It is a position of service, of public service, and that is my heart in all of this. It’s not just to coast, but it is to engage, it’s to help, it’s to make a difference in every respect.”