[2] Lake won the Conservative Party of Canada nomination for the riding of Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont defeating seven-time candidate Tim Uppal.

The nomination proved to be significant since popular long time Liberal incumbent David Kilgour had chosen to retire, creating a power vacuum in the riding.

Pundits had predicted the race would be closer as the Liberal Party of Canada had held the district and its predecessor ridings since 1991.

In his first term as a representative in the House of Commons of Canada, Lake was presented with a very unusual petition signed by almost 500 individuals calling for Bigfoot to be protected under the Species at Risk Act.

[6] After the resignation of Stephen Harper as leader of the Conservatives, now the Official Opposition, Lake announced that he would run for the interim leadership.