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alison redford to appoint a new candidate in calgary-west, say tory sources [updated].

Alberta Premier Alison Redford 2011
Premier Alison Redford

Following claims of voting irregularities at the recently held Calgary-West Progressive Conservative nomination meeting, Tory sources are saying that Premier Alison Redford may find a new candidate to carry her party’s banner in that constituency.

The hard fought nomination battle saw former Calgary-McCall MLA Shiraz Shariff shock political watchers by defeating past Alberta Health Services Chairman Ken Hughes. A former Member of Parliament, Mr. Hughes was a member of Premier Redford’s transition team and was seen as a star candidate for the PCs.

The constituency is currently represented by Finance Minister Ron Liepert, who is not seeking re-election. Sources say that the new candidate could be someone other than Mr. Hughes.

This is not Mr. Shariff’s first brush with controversy. In 2008, private-citizen Naheed Nenshi spoke to CBC about what he believed were irregularities carried out at the polls by Mr. Shariff’s campaign workers during the 2004 election. Mr. Shariff narrowly defeated Liberal Darshan Kang in that election (Mr. Kang later defeated Mr. Shariff in the 2008 election).

This would not be the first time the PCs have had to find a last minute replacement for a candidate in Calgary-West.

In 1997, Premier Ralph Klein‘s barber Mike Nasser stepped down as the PC candidate after it was revealed he was the subject of a city lawsuit and several complaints regarding his business proceedings. The runner-up from the previously held nomination meeting cut her Mexican vacation short to fly back and hold the party banner in the election. Karen Kryczka served two terms as MLA after that.

The Tories are also expected to appoint candidates to challenge popular Liberal MLA Kent Hehr in Calgary-Buffalo and NDP MLA Rachel Notley in Edmonton-Strathcona. No candidates entered the previously scheduled nomination contests in these two constituencies. Sources suggest that recent Calgary-McCall PC nomination candidate Jamie Lall will be appointed in Calgary-Buffalo. This will be the second consecutive election where the PCs have had to appoint a candidate to challenge Ms. Notley.

UPDATE: A media release from the PC Party says that Mr. Shariff is no longer the candidate in Calgary-West. Jamie Lall and Emerson Mayers have been appointed as PC candidates in Calgary-Buffalo and Edmonton-Strathcona. See the comment section of this blog post for the entire text of the media release.

11 replies on “alison redford to appoint a new candidate in calgary-west, say tory sources [updated].”

“Sources say that the new candidate could be someone other than Mr. Hughes.”

Ok but I bet it’ll be Mr. Hughes. This is of course and renewed PC party after all.

I agree with Casual Observer, if anyone is appointed in Calgary West, it will be Ken Hughes. 40 years of rule without ever really facing the threat of defeat has eliminated the need for the PC party to even appear impartial or fair. They do what they want to do and the lemmings keep voting for it.

Media release from the PC Party:

PC Party takes action in Calgary West; Appoints candidates to two other constituencies

Calgary – Bill Smith, President of the PCAA, announced today steps to be taken in response to concerns with the recent Calgary West PC nomination.

“The PCAA received several written complaints about the eligibility of some of those who voted in the recent nomination for Calgary West. After a thorough review of memberships, and on the advice of the PCAA Executive Director, we have disallowed the nomination. There is currently no candidate nominated in Calgary West,” said Smith.

Due to tight timelines, the PCAA is asking the duly elected PC Board of Calgary West to consider possible candidates and submit 3 names from which the Leader can choose.

“In such circumstances, it is the normal process to simply appoint a candidate, but we feel the Board should have input into this process. The Board of Calgary West has been extremely co-operative during our review,” added Smith. “I want to thank all of the volunteers for their hard work and as a Party we praise them for participating in the democratic process in our province.”

The PCAA does not hold any one candidate or campaign responsible for the unfortunate situation. The PCAA also announces the appointment of Jamie Lall as the PC candidate for Calgary Buffalo & Emerson Mayers as the candidate for Edmonton Strathcona.

Should re-do the entire nomination meeting, let the people who are eliglble decide who they want as their PC candidate. This is a no win for the Party if they appoint someone

…. “a normal process to appoint”. No, it is a process to anoint, and there should be nothing “normal” about it. …..volunteers praised for their “democratic” work, and now they can reap the benefit of “autocratic” choice. How out of touch are the voters in Calgary West? It would take a psychic to understand their collective political choices.

Interesting that NONE of the candidates , as told to the Calgary Herald, had any complaints regarding the process in this riding! So who “wrote or issued the complaints”. If the candidates found the process fair (or they lied to the Herald), why not the PC Party! There was a candidate in Calgary Buffalo who could not collect sufficient signatures, but they had yet to publish and announce a nomination process (so says the Herald). So they appoint a nominee for a riding that did not yet announce a nomination and run over a person who was working toward gaining the nomination. Why have an election – why not let the PC Party just appoint the MLA’s. Perhaps the “folks” will on election day actually “elect” their MLA – be it of any other stripe! Time for the folks to “push back”! “Due to a tight time line” – they have had 3 months to get this done!

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