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Alberta Politics

alberta candidate nomination update – november 2011.

The Progressive Conservatives have opened their nomination process, leading a number of candidates to declared their interest in opposition held constituencies. This first wave out of the floodgates have allowed me to update the list of declared and nominated candidates for the next provincial election:

Calgary-Buffalo: Dawna Haslam announced on her Facebook profile that she will be seeking the Progressive Conservative nomination in this downtown constituency. Buffalo has been represented by Liberal MLA Kent Hehr since 2008, and has been represented by both opposition and government MLAs over the past twenty years.

Ric McIver Calgary PC Calgary-Hays
Ric McIver is seeking the PC nomination in Calgary-Hays

Calgary-Hays: Long-time Alderman and defeated Mayoral candidate Ric McIver is seeking the PC nomination in this south east Calgary constituency. Mr. McIver will face current MLA Art Johnston and former PC constituency President Alex Girvin. First elected to the Assembly in 2004, Mr. Johnston was defeated by Rick Fraser in the May 2011 nomination contest for the new Calgary-South East constituency.

Calgary-Hawkwood: Former MLA Shiraz Shariff is said to be seeking the PC nomination in this new north west Calgary constituency. Mr. Shariff was first elected as the MLA for Calgary-McCall in a 1995 by-election and served until he was defeated by Liberal Darshan Kang in 2008.

Calgary-Mountain View: Energy company owner and past Alberta Party leadership candidate Chris Tesarski is seeking the PC nomination. Mr. Tesarski was briefly a candidate for the Alberta Party leadership earlier this year before dropping out and endorsing Alison Redford for the PC leadership. Mountain View has been represented by former Liberal leader David Swann since 2004.

Calgary-Varisty: Former Nexen senior executive Donna Kennedy-Glans is seeking the PC nomination. Readers may remember Ms. Kennedy-Glans for her unsuccessful bid to wrestle the Calgary-West federal Conservative nomination from ultra-conservative Member of Parliament Rob Anders in 2010. The nasty contest saw conservative pundit Ezra Levant descend on Ms. Kennedy-Glans labelling her a “Liberal saboteur.” Seeking the PC nomination in Calgary-Varsity may be less of a bloodsport.
Varisty has been represented by Liberal MLA Harry Chase since 2004 and with his retirement, the Liberals have nominated Carpenters’ Union leader Bruce Payne to carry their flag. This will be a race to watch.

Edmonton-Centre: The NDP have rescheduled their nomination meeting to November 9, 2011. Past federal candidate Nadine Bailey is expected to be acclaimed.

Edmonton-South West: Matt Jeneroux is seeking the PC nomination in this new constituency which will be created from parts of the Edmonton-McClung and Edmonton-Whitemud constituencies in south west Edmonton.

Grande Prairie-Smoky: Three-term PC MLA Mel Knight has announced that he will not seek re-election. No candidates have officially declared themselves in the contest to replace Mr. Knight as the PC candidate, but some names of potential candidates being suggested include City of Grande Prairie Alderman Kevin O’Toole, Greenview Councillor Tom Burton, and Grande Prairie County Reeve Everett Macdonald.

Duane Stevenson has entered the Wildrose Party nomination contest in Grande Prairie-Smoky, challenging Todd Loewen. Mr. Stevenson is the General Manager of Nitehawk Recreation Area.

St. Albert: Local businessman Steve Khan has joined the PC nomination contest against Jeff Wedman and incumbent MLA Ken Allred.

West Yellowhead: The Wildrose has nominated forester Stuart Taylor as their candidate. Mr. Taylor is not to be confused with the other Mr. Taylor nominated to stand in this constituency Alberta Party leader and Mayor of Hinton Glenn Taylor.

10 replies on “alberta candidate nomination update – november 2011.”

Very little activity on the Wildrose front. Not surprising given how fast they have been going down in the polls.

The fact that Wildrose can’t attract top tier candidates like McIver who instead go to the PC’s shows that they’ve seriously lost momentum.

I don’t know about that Brian. McIver does seem like a natural Wildrose candidate, but you should not underestimate the ‘establishment’ factor that the PCs have. With a few exceptions, being a PC candidate in Alberta still means that you are almost certain to win, and not only that, but be part of the government/government caucus.

I’ve no doubt Ric could have gotten elected as a Wildroser, but he would have still been on the opposition benches, as it seems unlikely that the Wildrose can form a government this coming election. That doesn’t mean, I don’t think, that they’ve lost that much momentum. I just think that the very idea they could form the next government so soon was overblown from the start. I find it highly likely that they will form the official opposition with around 17-20 seats, and that’s actually pretty impressive, considering.

17-20 seats for the Wildrose? That is really, really stetching it. What seats?

I say 5-10 seats, tops, all in rural southern Alberta.

Well I might have gone a little high; I can revise that to somewhere around 15 and I still think that’s reasonable. If the Wildrose can get support of around 30%, which is plausible, they should do well in southern Alberta and Calgary.

It all depends on how high or low the Tories go. If they’re around 40% or above, not good for Wildrose. If it’s in the 30s, the Wildrose will do well. Where? I’d expect ~5 seats in Calgary and the rest in Southern AB (plus I imagine they’ll hang on to the Ft Mac seat).

Speculative, perhaps, but they should not be under-estimated. Not by the Tories, and not by the other parties either. As someone running for an opposition party I don’t want to make that mistake.

I think the Wildrose could pick up a dozen in southern rural Alberta, up to Red Deer. But they are going to be completely wiped out in Calgary based on the last 3-4 polls and from just talking to people in the city.

What 5 seats in Calgary? The most they could get (on a really good day) would be to keep Glenmore and Fish Creek and maybe Calgary Southeast. Everything else will be PC or Liberal on a vote split (i.e. Buffalo, Currie).

The 5 in Calgary was assuming they keep the two they have, plus Calgary Southeast, and two in the suburban northwest.

But I wouldn’t bet too much that they hold on to Fish Creek, which is why I said around 5.

Based on the polls I’ve seen (http://threehundredeight.blogspot.com/2011/10/redford-leading-way-in-alberta.html) the Wildrose still poll higher in Calgary than anywhere else, so I don’t think 4-5 seats is out of the realm of possibility. Redford may be from Calgary but I don’t think that will guarantee success there.

I guess Jason Luan, a City employee who run for 2001’s alderman in Calgary, is seeking the nomination for the Alberta Progressive Conservatives in constituency of Calgary Hawkwood too.

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