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Kenney had repeatedly said the byelection would be a chance to send a message to Notley’s NDP government, which he has lashed for economic and fiscal mismanagement — taking particular aim at the government’s carbon levy and growing debt levels.

“Tonight, friends, I received my marching orders — to fight every day to hold this government to account,” Kenney told a raucous crowd crammed into his Woodbine campaign headquarters.

With the win, Kenney can now go toe-to-toe with Notley in the legislature over the next year in the run-up to the 2019 provincial election.

Kenney, who did not speak to reporters, accused the NDP of running a “fear and smear campaign” against him in the byelection but said he would take a respectful approach as he battled the government.

“Premier Notley, I look forward to meeting you in the legislature.”

There were seven candidates in the field, with Green Party Leader Romy Tittel, Alberta Reform candidate Lauren Thorsteinson and Independents Wayne Leslie and Larry Heather also in the race.

But from the start, the byelection had been all about Kenney, the longtime Conservative MP and cabinet minister who entered provincial politics last year on a quest to unite the Progressive Conservatives and Wildrose to ensure the defeat of the NDP.

Calgary-Lougheed was the first electoral test of the UCP, though the south Calgary riding has long been a stronghold for both provincial and federal conservatives.