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For the two main federal opposition parties, 2017 cannot come soon enough. The New Democrats in particular have entered the zone of scorched earth.

At first blush, given the result in Monday’s by-election in the Alberta riding of Medicine-Hat-Cardston-Warner, the Conservatives, headed by interim leader Rona Ambrose, are healthy enough.

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As expected, they held the riding, with retired police officer Glen Motz taking nearly 23,932 votes, just under 70 per cent. The second-place finisher, Liberal Stan Sakamoto, garnered 8,778 votes – or 25.6 per cent.

It wasn’t even close. Drilling deeper though, Tory brows will furrow because, as in two Alberta by-elections in 2014 and the general election last October, the red team increased its vote share, at the expense of the New Democratic Party. The NDP, for all intents and purposes, disappeared.

In the general election, the Liberal candidate in Medicine Hat won 18 per cent of the vote, whereas the New Democrat garnered 9.7 per cent. Monday, the NDP’s Beverly Ann Waege won all of 353 votes – one per cent. Christian Heritage candidate Rod Taylor doubled that with 702 votes.