It has been two weeks since Ted Falk was elected to a 4th term as Member of Parliament for Provencher.

In the September 20th election, Falk took 48.7 per cent of the votes. His nearest competitor was Liberal candidate Trevor Kirczenow who claimed 17.0 per cent of the votes.

ver/ Roseau Rapids won by NDP Serina Pottinger and then an Advance Poll in the Grunthal/Kleefeld and surrounding area won by PPC candidate Noel Gautron. The other four polling stations were mobile polls and Elections Canada will not identify those locations.

"A person never likes to see the percentage of support go down," says Falk. "I think the factor that probably influenced that the most was the PPC."

People's Party of Canada candidate Noel Gautron picked up 16.5 per cent of the votes in last month's election. That is up from the 2.2 per cent which the PPC candidate received in the 2019 vote.

"We saw their vote of just over sixteen per cent almost directly correspond to the dip in percentage of support for myself," explains Falk. "And so that seems to have accounted for the largest difference."

Backing up what the numbers say, Falk notes his support was fairly consistent throughout the constituency. However, he says it was in the southern half of the riding where he sensed the strongest support for the PPC.

"Certainly the message coming from that group of people that voted that way was that they do not support mandatory vaccines or vaccine passports," says Falk. "And that was the message that they proclaimed loud and free, they want their freedom back."

Falk notes there is a lot of frustration and anger over all of the provincial lockdowns and restrictions with respect to COVID-19.

"They are frustrated, they are tired, they are angry," he says.

Falk notes even though the restrictions and the mandates being referred to by voters, are provincial in nature, they decided to turn it into a federal issue. And, with the PPC making it their platform to oppose vaccination passports and mandates, Falk says this resonated with many voters in Provencher.

"I've been very upfront all along that I do not support mandatory vaccines, I think people should be able to choose whether or not a vaccine is best for them and their family," he says. "And I don't think their should be discrimination against people, either way, whether they have been vaccinated or unvaccinated. For me the focus going forward will be to try and get over some of the divisions that have been created in our communities and to work on unity."

Falk says Provencher is still a tremendous place to live and he enjoys serving its constituents. He says he has missed not being able to attend events and community functions and is hopeful that we can soon resume what we used to understand as normal.

Meanwhile, Falk is back in Ottawa this week for the first time since the election. He says they have a caucus meeting scheduled but he also looks forward to meeting some of his new colleagues that were just elected for the first time, while reconnecting with others who were just re-elected. He expects PC Leader Erin O'Toole will soon give them their committee assignments, and he looks forward to seeing where he might be used.

Falk says the federal election was a waste of time and a waste of $610 million.

"I don't think a lot's going to change," he says. "It will be interesting to see if the NDP continues to prop up this Liberal government and as long as they are willing to do that, then the Liberal government will be able to govern."