Calgary-Currie – Joshua Codd is seeking the Liberal Party nomination. Codd is currently a Constituency Assistant for Calgary-Mountain View Liberal MLA David Swann. A candidate selection meeting has been scheduled for Jan. 23, 2019.
Calgary-Hays – Chris Nowell has been nominated as the Alberta Party candidate in this southeast Calgary district. The district is currently represented by UCP MLA Ric McIver, who was acclaimed as his party’s candidate on June 7, 2018.
Calgary-Peigan – Joseph Pimlott is seeking the NDP nomination in this south east Calgary district. Pimlott is a community liaison with Metis Calgary Family Services and the former executive director of the Aboriginal Friendship Centre of Calgary and provincial vice-president of the Metis Nation of Alberta. A candidate selection meeting is scheduled for January 19, 2019.
Highwood – Erik Overland is running for the NDP nomination in this district south of Calgary. Overland lives in Okotoks, is a Policy Studies student at Mount Royal University and a Governor of the Students’ Association of Mount Royal University. A nomination meeting is scheduled to take place on January 26, 2019.
If you know any candidates who have announced their intentions to stand for party nominations, please send me an email at david.cournoyer@gmail.com. I will add them to the list. Thank you!
Update: Controversy with NDP nomination in Calgary-North East
NDP members in the Calgary-North East district are calling for an investigation into alleged voter fraud at a nomination vote held in December 2018. Gurbachan Brar defeated Roop Rai to win the NDP nomination and now a member of Rai’s campaign says complaints about people from outside the riding voting fraudulently were not taken seriously by the party.
According to a report by the CBC, the complaints allege people voted using false addresses and documents, both ahead of the vote and on the day itself.
The First Minister’s Meeting, oil prices, and Premier Rachel Notley’s performance on the national stage are where we started the discussion in this episode. Dave and Ryan also delved into the latest nomination news and what 2019 holds for Alberta politics, including when the next provincial and federal elections could be called.
We also discuss our choices for theDaveberta Best of Alberta Politics 2018 Survey. Submissions will close on December 12, 2018 at 12:00pm and the top three choices in each category will be included in a round of voting starting on December 13, 2018. Voting will be open until December 19 and the winners will be announced on December 20, 2018.
You can listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, or wherever you find podcasts online. We would love to hear what you think of this episode, so feel free to leave a positive review where you download, comment on the blog, Facebook or Twitter or send us an email at podcast@daveberta.ca.
Thanks to everyone who sent us questions for this episode. We had so many great questions that we have recorded a special episode dedicated to answering your questions that will be published for your listening pleasure on December 24, 2018.
And a huge thanks to our producer, Adam Rozenhart, who keeps us on track and makes each episode of the Daveberta Podcast sound so great.
This nomination contest was contentious, with questions about the eligibility of Fordand former MLAMark Hlady in the contest. Ford’s candidacy was ultimately accepted and Hlady, who represented his district as a Progressive Conservative MLA from 1993 to 2004 and as the PC Party candidate in 2015, was not approved by the UCP to run.
Defeated UCP nomination contestants in Calgary-East have levelled allegations of fraud, forgery, improper inducement and bribery in the race won by Peter Singh on November 3, 2018. A letter signed by Andre Chabot, Jamie Lall, Issa Moussa and Matthew Dirk sent to UCP Leader Jason Kenney and deputy leader Leela Aheer have asked for the results of the contest to be overturned.
According to Postmedia, one woman in Calgary-East “said she was solicited by Singh at his auto shop while getting her vehicle repaired last July, and soon after discovered her credit card number had been used to purchase a party membership.”
Calgary-Falconridge – Parmeet Singh was nominated as the NDP candidate in this northeast Calgary district.
Edmonton-South West – Kaycee Madu defeated Kevin Greco and former PC MLA Sohail Quadri to secure the UCP nomination on December 6, 2018.
Livingstone-Macleod – Roger Reid defeated Nathan Neudorf and Thomas Schneider to win the UCP nomination on December 8, 2018. Reid is the owner of Tim Hortons franchises in Nanton and Claresholm. He is the second Tim Horton’s franchaise owner to win a UCP nomination, along with Grande Prairie UCP candidate Tracy Allard.
Sherwood Park – Jordan Walker defeated Maureen Gough, Sean Kenny, and Len Thom to secure the UCP nomination in Sherwood Park. Walker is a conservative party activist and an Assessment Consultant in the Alberta Department of Labour.
Upcoming nomination meetings
With the end of the year approaching, Alberta’s political parties have begun winding down nomination meetings scheduled for this year. By the end of 2018, the UCP will have nominated candidates in 77 of Alberta’s 87 districts, the NDP will have nominated candidates in 33 districts, and the Alberta Party in around 50 districts. Here are the remaining nomination meetings being held in 2018:
December 12, 2018 – Richard Dempsey, Karri Flatla, and George Rigaux are seeking the UCP nomination in Lethbridge-West.
December 12, 2018 – Two NDP MLAs are challenging each other for their party’s nomination in the newly redrawn St. Albert district. Current Spruce Grove-St. Albert MLA Trevor Horne and current St. Albert MLA Marie Renaud are seeking the NDP candidacy. Both MLAs were first elected in 2015.
Renaud has been endorsed by eleven of her caucus colleagues, including Stony Plain MLA Erin Babcock, Calgary-Hawkwood MLA Michael Connolly, Calgary-Klein MLA Craig Coolahan, Calgary-Bow MLA Deborah Drever, Lethbridge-East MLA Maria Fitzpatrick, Edmonton-Castle Downs MLA Nicole Goehring, Edmonton-Ellerslie MLA Rod Loyola, Sherwood Park MLA Annie McKitrick, Athabasca-Sturgeon-Redwater MLA Colin Piquette, Edmonton-Centre MLA David Shepherd, and Edmonton-Whitemud MLA Bob Turner.
December 13, 2018 – NDP MLA Thomas Dang is expected to be nominated as his party’s candidate in Edmonton-South. Dang was first elected in 2015 in Edmonton-South West, where he earned 53 percent of the vote and unseated PC MLA Matt Jeneroux.
December 15, 2018 – Manwar Khan and Keli Tamaklo are seeking the Alberta Party nomination in Edmonton-Manning. Tamaklo is a former member of Edmonton Police Commission, Vice-Chair of the Africa Centre, and former Chief Administrative Officer for the Town of High Prairie. Khan is a Business Coordinator in the provincial Department of Community and Social Services and founded Do Not Be a Bystander, after witnessing and attempting to intervene to prevent a murder on Edmonton’s LRT.
December 15, 2018 – “Mulligan!” Shane Getson and Leah Wood are facing off in the second UCP nomination contest in Lac Ste. Anne-Parkland. A previous nomination contest held in August 2018 resulted in a win for Onoway business owner Dale Johnson, who was later disqualified after the UCP discovered he was alleged to have paid $5,584.60 to an employee he fired with whom he was in a romantic relationship. A former member of the UCP interim board of directors, Wood was widely seen as the establishment favourite in the first contest and is in a similar position in this second nomination contest.
December 16, 2018 – Gurbachan Brar and Roop Rai are seeking the NDP nomination in Calgary-North East. Brar is the former President of the Punjabi Likhari Sabha and is a former Broadcaster at RED FM 106.7. Rai is a constituency assistant to Calgary-McCall NDP MLA Irfan Sabir and was her party’s candidate in the 2016 by-election in Calgary-Greenway. In that contest she earned 20.17 percent of the vote in a competitive four-way race that saw PC candidate Prab Gill win with 27.7 percent.
If you know any candidates who have announced their intentions to stand for party nominations, please send me an email at david.cournoyer@gmail.com. I will add them to the list. Thank you!
Premier Rachel Notley rallies her NDP Caucus MLAs before the start of the fall legislative sitting on Oct. 30, 2017. (photo by Chris Schwarz/Government of Alberta Flickr)
What we know:
The last provincial General Election was held 3 years, 7 months, 2 days ago on May 5, 2015.
According to Section 38.1(2) of the Elections Act, a general election should be held between March 1 and May 31, and in the same three-month period in the fourth calendar year thereafter. This means that the next general election will likely be held between March 1 and May 31, 2019. This fixed election period was introduced in the Election Amendment Act passed on December 6, 2011.
Election campaign periods in Alberta last 28 days. Section 39 (d) of the Election Act states: “the 28th day after the date of the writ is the day on which voting is to take place, or if the 28th day is a holiday, the next following day not being a holiday.” There are a number of statutory and religious holidays that fall in this fixed election period when an election day would not be held: Good Friday is April 19, Easter Monday is April 22, and Victoria Day is May 20.
In accordance with our parliamentary system of government, the Elections Act also states that nothing in the law “affects the powers of the Lieutenant Governor, including the power to dissolve the Legislature, in Her Majesty’s name, when the Lieutenant Governor sees fit.” This means that Lieutenant Governor Lois Mitchell could issue a writ of election and dissolve the Legislative Assembly whenever she is asked to do so by Premier Rachel Notley. It would be highly irregular for a Lieutenant Governor to deny a Premier’s wish to issue a writ of election.
Speculation:
There are a number of factors that could impact when exactly the election is called.
One major indicator of a party’s readiness for an election is the number of candidates they have nominated. As of today, the New Democratic Party has nominated 31 candidates in 87 districts, meaning that party will need to nominate a majority of its candidates in the first few months of 2019 in order to be prepared for a spring election. The United Conservative Party currently has nominated 74 candidates in 87 districts and will have almost an entire slate of candidates nominated by the end of 2018.
Whether the NDP will recall the Legislative Assembly in the spring of 2019 to present a Throne Speech and introduce a budget before calling an election is unknown at this point. The recent session of the Assembly, which ended on Thursday, December 6, 2018, is widely considered to be the last session in which a serious legislative agenda would be implemented. But it is not uncommon for governments to call an election immediately after tabling or passing a budget, and then using that budget as a de-facto campaign platform.
In 2015, Premier Jim Prentice called an election twelve days after a 16 days session which ended with the tabling of a provincial budget. And Premier Alison Redford called the election five days after the MLAs voted to approve that year’s provincial budget.
Tabling a provincial budget before calling an election could be a double-edge sword for the NDP in 2019.
Using a budget as its re-election platform would allow the Notley government to highlight its continued investments in health care, education, and public transportation like Calgary’s Green Line and Edmonton’s west LRT expansion, and contrast its plan with the expected slash and burn budgets that would be introduced under a UCP government led by Jason Kenney. But unless there is a big change in Alberta’s economic situation (and the international price of oil), any budget presented by the NDP in 2019 would likely have a significant deficit. While both the NDP and UCP have said they would plan to run budget deficits for the next few years, it would draw unwanted attention to an issue that is not seen as the NDP’s strength.
But whether or not a budget is tabled before the election, Finance Minister Joe Ceci is still required by the Fiscal Planning and Transparency Act to publicly release a Fiscal Update and Economic Statement on or before February 28, 2019.
Elections Alberta will release the first quarter financial disclosures of fundraising by Alberta’s political parties in mid-April 2019. And if the UCP continues dominating in the fundraising field, the NDP may want to avoid a round of news coverage about how they have been out-fundraised by its main conservative opponent.
A shrewd calculation related to when the election is held could be related to when voters of certain demographics are likely to be in Alberta and have easy access of voting stations. Calling an early election could limit the ability of vacationing snowbirds to cast their ballots in the election. Polls have suggested that the UCP has a considerable lead over the NDP among voters over the age of 65.
On the other end of the demographic spectrum, calling an early election in 2019 would ensure that university and college campuses are in session when the election is held. Polls suggest that the NDP have stronger support among younger and university educated voters. Mobilizing the student vote could make a difference in a number of electoral districts currently represented by the NDP, including Calgary-Currie, Calgary-Mountain View, Calgary-Varsity, Edmonton-Centre, Edmonton-Riverview, and Lethbridge-West.
Delay the election to late 2019 or early 2020?
Notley said publicly in 2017 that she intends to follow both the spirit and letter of Alberta’s fixed-election-date legislation. But as we all know, circumstances sometimes change in politics.
There might be a backlash of public opinion, like the Progressive Conservative government faced when it called an election one year early in 2015, but the NDP do have the ability to wait until Spring 2020 to call the next provincial election. Alberta’s Election Act fixes the period to every four years, but the Charter of Rights and Freedoms says otherwise.
According to Section 4. (1) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, “No House of Commons and no legislative assembly shall continue for longer than five years from the date fixed for the return of the writs at a general election of its members.”
The decision to delay the next general election beyond Spring 2019 could have drastic electoral consequences for the NDP, but if the party already sees its chances of re-election as slim, as most polls suggest, it might be convinced to take the gamble. Waiting until late 2019 or early 2020 could mean the election could be held after the start of construction of the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion and as the economy continues to recover from the drop in the international price of oil in 2014.
Delaying until 2020 would also give Notley an opportunity to campaign against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the expected October 2019 federal election. This would give Notley an opportunity to create some distance between herself and Trudeau, who had allies on the climate change file before their political relationship broke down over the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion delays.
Delaying the election would have unclear consequences for Third Party Election Advertisers.
The Election Finances and Contributions Disclosure Act currently states these groups, commonly known as Political Action Committees, are limited to spending $150,000 province-wide on election-related advertising between December 1 in the year before an election and election day. This legislation was passed under the assumption that the fixed-election period would be honoured. If the election is delayed until past spring 2019 and the post-December 1 limits continue to be implemented, the ability of PACs to advertise during the election would be severely limited.
Calgary-Falconridge – Devinder Toor defeated Pete de Jong and Jesse Minhas to secure the United Conservative Party nomination in this district. Toor was the Wildrose Party candidate in the 2016 by-election and 2015 general election in Calgary-Greenway. He was defeated by then-Progressive Conservative candidate Prab Gill in the 2016 by-election to choose a successor to Manmeet Bhullar, who Toor was defeated by in 2015.
Happy Mann’s candidacy in this contest was rejected by the UCP after he was alleged to have been involved in a incident where a local reporter was assaulted. Mann was the Wildrose Party candidate in Calgary-McCall in the 2015 election and Calgary-Cross in the 2012 election.
Camrose – Kevin Smook defeated Steven Hansen to secure the Alberta Party nomination in this district. Smook is councillor for Division 1 on Beaver County council, where he was first elected in 2013. He served as Reeve of Beaver County from 2014 to 2017.
Edmonton-Manning – Harjinder Grewal defeated Dakota Drouillard, Gurcharan Garcha, and Kulshan Gill to secure the UCP nomination in this northeast Edmonton district. Grewal is a former Edmonton Police Service officer and was the recipient of the Kiwanis 2013 ‘Top Cop’ award.
Edmonton-West Henday – Leah McRorie is seeking the Liberal Party nomination in this Edmonton district. McRorie is a certified facilitator with the Alberta Caregivers Associationand prolific tweeter. According to her LinkedIn profile, she provided social media support for Jeanne Lehman in her campaign for the NDP nomination in Edmonton-Manning ahead of the 2015 federal election.
Innisfail-Sylvan Lake – Devin Dreeshen has been acclaimed as the UCP candidate in this district. There had been speculation that Dreeshen would be appointed by the UCP board and there does not appear to be any evidence that an open nomination contest was held before he was acclaimed.
Leduc-Beaumont – Robb Connelly is seeking the Alberta Party nomination. His application to run for the Alberta Party nomination in the neighbouring Strathcona-Sherwood Park district was denied by the Party.
Lesser Slave Lake – Judy Kim-Meneen is no longer the nominated Alberta Party candidate in this sprawling northern Alberta district. Kim-Meneen instead now appears to have been nominated as the Alberta Party candidate in Edmonton-North West. It also appears that former PC Party candidate Emerson Mayers withdrew from the contest in Edmonton-North West and that former Liberal Party candidate Todd Ross is now seeking the Alberta Party nomination in Edmonton-Ellerslie.
Spruce Grove-Stony Plain – Spruce Grove City Councillor Searle Turton defeated Mathew Clarke and Jerry W. Semen to secure the UCP nomination in this urban district west of Edmonton. Turton was first elected to Spruce Grove City Council in 2010.
If you know any candidates who have announced their intentions to stand for party nominations, please send me an email at david.cournoyer@gmail.com. I will add them to the list. Thank you!
Here is a preview of the nomination contests being held in the coming days:
Polak is the former Vice-President of Communications for the Wildrose Party and served as a member of the UCP interim board from 2017 to 2018. Ford is an international affairs specialist with a background in China and human rights. She has worked as a senior policy advisor with Global Affairs Canada. Wong is a pastor with the Calgary Chinese Alliance Church and recently completed a Master of Public Administration at the University of Calgary.
Polak has been endorsed by former Wildrose Party leader Brian Jean. Ford has been endorsed by Edmonton-area MP Garnett Genuis, former PC MLA Kyle Fawcett, UCP candidates Doug Schweitzer and Tyler Shandro, and past mayoral candidate Bill Smith. Wong has been endorsed by UCP candidate Jeremy Nixon, former PC MLAs Wayne Cao and Gordon Dirks, and University of Calgary economist Jack Mintz.
Former Progressive Conservative MLA Mark Hlady was seeking the nomination but was disqualified last month.
Greco is a certified home inspector, Madu is a lawyer with Tisel Law Office, and Quadri previously served as the PC MLA for Edmonton-Mill Woods from 2008 to 2015. Quadri served as Legislative Secretary to premier Jim Prentice from 2014 to 2015.
Greco is endorsed by former MP and MLA Ian McClelland.
Reid is the owner of Tim Hortons franchises in Nanton and Clareshold and is chair of the Claresholm and District Health Foundation. Schnieder previously worked as an Area Sales Representative with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
Gough was a researcher with the Wildrose and UCP caucuses. Thom is the former president of the PC Party and was the federal Conservative candidate in Edmonton-Strathcona in the 2015 election. And Walker is an Assessment Consultant in the Department of Labour.
Gough is endorsed by UCP MLAs Leela Aheer, Scott Cyr, Grant Hunter, Mark Smith, Rick Strankman, and Wes Taylor. Thom has been endorsed by Brian Jean. Walker has been endorsed by MP Garnett Genuis, former MP Ken Epp, and former UCP constituency president Stephen Burry (who is now Acting Chief of Staff with the Freedom Conservative Party Caucus).
December 9, 2018 – Parmeet Singh Boparai and Paramjit Singh Mann are seeking the New Democratic Party nomination in Calgary-Falconridge. Boparai is the former president of the Dashmesh Culture Centre. Update: Paramjit Singh Mann’s candidacy has not been accepted by the NDP.
Photo: Jason Kenney and Tunde Obasan (source: Facebook)
Government audit manager Tunde Obasan defeated three-term City Councillor Mike Nickel and chiropractor William Farrell to secure the United Conservative Party nomination in the new Edmonton-South district. Three other candidates, Atul Ranade, Inderdeep Sandhu, and Payman Paresan, withdrew from the contest before the vote.
He initially announced his intentions to seek the UCP candidacy in Edmonton-Whitemud but withdrew from that race in January 2018 to contest the nomination in Edmonton-South.
Current Edmonton-South West MLA Thomas Dang is seeking the New Democratic Party candidacy in this new district at a December 13, 2018 nomination meeting.
Nickel, who said in June 2018 that “I’ve done as much as I can do from a council seat,” will now presumably remain on city council until the 2021 municipal election.
Former MLA disqualified in Calgary UCP contest
Former Progressive Conservative MLA Mark Hlady has been disqualified from the UCP nomination contest in Calgary-Mountain View.
Mark Hlady
The former MLA wrote in a message to supporters that he was disqualified over a dispute over the date of purchased of his UCP membership. Hlady claims that the UCP made an exception in a similar situation with another candidate, who he does not name but is almost certainly a reference to nomination candidate Caylan Ford.
Members of the UCP Board of Directors in the district, including Hlady’s CFO, Dean Brawn, filed a complaint last month with the party over Ford’s membership status.
Hlady also claimed in his email that while the UCP disqualified him from the race, the party asked Elections Alberta to list him as having withdrawn on their website.
He has now endorsed Becca Polak and Jeremy Wong for the UCP nomination in this district.
He represented Calgary-Mountain View in the Alberta Legislature from 1993 to 2004 and was the PC candidate in the 2015 election.
Schreiner seeking re-election in Red Deer
NDP MLA Kim Schreiner is seeking her party’s nomination for re-election in Red Deer-North. Schreiner was elected in 2015 in a 4-way race with 29.4 percent of the vote (Wildrose candidate Buck Buchanan earned 24.6 percent and PC Christine Moore earned 22.7 percent and Liberal Michael Dawe earned 19.3 percent).
And in Calgary-Falconridge, Parmeet Singh Boparai is challenging Paramjit Singh Mann for the NDP nomination. Boparai is the former president of the Dashmesh Culture Centre.
November 21, 2018 – Jim Black is expected to be nominated as the Alberta Party candidate in Brooks-Medicine Hat. Black was the Alberta Party candidate in Medicine Hat in the 2015 provincial election, where he earned 5.7 percent of the vote.
November 21, 2018 – MLA Richard Feehan is expected to be nominated as the NDP candidate in Edmonton-Rutherford. Feehan was first elected in 2015, earning 63.9 percent of the vote. He now serves as Minister of Indigenous Relations and Deputy Government House Leader.
November 23, 2018 – MLA David Eggen is expected to be nominated as the NDP candidate in the new district of Edmonton-North West. Eggen has represented the Edmonton-Calder district from 2004 to 2008 and 2012 to the now. He currently serves as Minister of Education.
November 21 & 24, 2018 – There is a Wildrose Stomp in Camrose with four of the five candidates seeking the UCP nomination having run under the Wildrose Party banner in a past election. Former Edmonton-Ellerslie Wildrose candidate Jackie Lovely, former Strathcona-Sherwood Park Wildrose candidate Rob Johnson, former Calgary-South East Wildrose candidate Brandon Lunty, and former Wetaskiwin-Camrose Wildrose candidate Trevor Miller will face casino manager Dawn Anderson.
If you know any candidates who have announced their intentions to stand for party nominations, please send me an email at david.cournoyer@gmail.com. I will add them to the list. Thank you!
United Conservative Party candidates Rajan Sawhney, Mickey Amery, Jasraj Singh Hallan, and Elisabeth Hughes
Photo: United Conservative Party candidates Rajan Sawhney, Mickey Amery, Jasraj Singh Hallan, and Elisabeth Hughes.
Good evening, here is the latest update of nomination races and candidates preparing to run in Alberta’s next provincial election. As of this evening, the United Conservative Party has nominated candidates in 58 of 87 districts, the Alberta Party has nominated 42 candidates, the New Democratic Party has nominated 24 candidates, the Liberal Party has nominated 5 candidates, and the Green Party has nominated 3 candidates.
The UCP held five candidate selection meetings over the past week.
Mickey Amery defeated Roshan Chumber, Sherrisa Celis and Emile Gabriel to secure the UCP nomination in Calgary-Cross. Amery is the son of former Progressive Conservative MLA Moe Amery, who represented Calgary-East from 1993 to 2015 and ran in east Calgary in every provincial election between 1986 and 2015.
Jasraj Singh Hallan defeated Amarjit Banwait, Usman Mahmood, and Jangbahadur Sidhu to win the UCP nomination in Calgary-McCall. McCall is currently represented by New Democratic Party MLA and cabinet minister Irfan Sabir and was represented by Liberal MLA Darshan Kang from 2008 to 2015.
There are three scheduled nomination meetings being held this week:
November 5, 2018 – 2015 Wildrose Party candidate Terry Devries, Amoriza Gunnink, Nicholas Milliken, past federal Conservative nomination candidate Dan Morrison, and Bettina Pierre-Gilles are seeking the UCP nomination in Calgary-Currie. Anthony Parker’s candidacy was not accepted by the UCP. Gunnink has been endorsed by Airdrie-East MLA Angela Pitt and Pierre-Gilles has been endorsed by Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre MLA Jason Nixon.
November 6 & 7, 2018 – Former Morinville town councillor and 2015 Wildrose Party candidate Joe Gosselin, Legal town councillor Trina Jones, Dale Nally, and former Sturgeon County mayor and 2015 Wildrose nomination candidate Don Rigney are seeking the UCP nomination in Morinville-St. Albert.Gibbons town councillor Amber Harris withdrew her candidacy for the nomination on November 2, 2018. Rigney’s endorsements page on his website appears to have been reused from his 2013 mayoral re-election campaign, including a testimonial from now deceased former Social Credit MLA Keith Everitt.
November 8, 2018 – NDP MLA Barb Miller is expected to be acclaimed for her party’s nomination in Red Deer-South. Miller was elected in 2015 with 35.9 percent of the vote in a three-way race.
Calgary-Falconridge – Raman Gill is seeking the UCP nomination. Happy Mann’s candidacy appears to have been rejected by the UCP. Mann was alleged to have been involved in a incident where a local reporter was assaulted. Mann was the Wildrose Party candidate in Calgary-McCall in the 2015 election and Calgary-Cross in the 2012 election.
Calgary-Mountain View – Long-time radio journalist Angela Kokott has been nominated as the Alberta Party candidate. Many Calgarians will know Kokott as the host of Calgary Today on NewsTalk 770. She is the third 770 host to jump into provincial politics in recent history, following Dave Taylor, who served as the MLA for Calgary-Currie from 2004 to 2008 (as a Liberal, then an Independent and Alberta Party MLA), and Mike Blanchard, who ran for the Wildrose Party in Calgary-Buffalo in 2012.
Calgary-North – Melanie Wen has withdrawn her candidacy for the Alberta Party in this district. She had been nominated on October 4, 2018.
Edmonton-Manning – Keli Tamaklo is seeking the Alberta Party nomination.
Edmonton-North West– Emerson Mayers is seeking the Alberta Party nomination. Mayers was recently a candidate for City Council in Ward 4. He ran for the Progressive Conservative Party in Edmonton-Strathcona in the 2012 election and previously sought the Liberal Party nomination in Edmonton-Manning in 1997, the PC nomination in Edmonton-Manning in 2008, the PC nomination in Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood in 2012, and the PC nomination in Edmonton-Beverly-Clareview in 2015.
Richard Feehan
Edmonton-Rutherford – Richard Feehan is seeking the NDP nomination for re-election in 2019. Feehan was first elected in 2015, earning 63.9 percent of the vote. He now serves as Minister of Indigenous Relations and Deputy Government House Leader.
Edmonton-Strathcona – It was never in doubt, but Premier Rachel Notley has officially announced her plans to seek re-election in the district she has represented since 2008. Notley was re-elected with 82.4 percent of the vote in 2015. With the exception of one-term from 1993 to 1997, this district has been represented by the NDP since 1986.
Grande Prairie – Grant Bergis seeking the Alberta Party nomination. Berg is the owner of Grant Berg Gallery and the former general manager of Big Country FM and 2Day Fm.
Red Deer-South – Haley Wile has withdrawn from the UCP nomination contest after it was revealed she accepted an illegal campaign contribution from the Red Deer Motors car dealership. Corporate donations to political candidates were prohibited in 2015.
If you know any candidates who have announced their intentions to stand for party nominations, please send me an email at david.cournoyer@gmail.com. I will add them to the list. Thank you!
Photo: Joe Anglin, speaking on the steps of the Alberta Legislature in his heyday as the Wildrose Party MLA for Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre (Photo credit: David Climenhaga)
Former Wildrose Party MLA Joe Anglin announced plans to seek the Freedom Conservative Party nomination to run in Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre in the next provincial election. Anglin represented the district from 2012 to 2015, first as a Wildrose Party MLA and then as an Independent MLA.
Derek Fildebrandt
Known for his taste for a political fight, Anglin is one of the more fascinating and colourful characters to have entered Alberta politics over the past decade.
He burst on to the political stage in the mid-2000s by leading a landowners revolt against the construction of giant electrical transmission lines through rural central Alberta and soon after took over the leadership of the Alberta Greens. He earned the best result ever for a provincial Green Party candidate in Alberta in 2008, when he garnered 22 percent of the vote in Lacombe-Ponoka. He left the Greens soon after the election and the party dissolved. He was known to float in numerous political circles over the next few years before joining the Wildrose Party and being elected MLA for Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre in 2012.
Anglin lost the Wildrose Party nomination in 2014 and left the Wildrose Caucus shortly afterward. He attempted to mount a campaign for the Progressive Conservative Party nomination in Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre in early 2015 but was denied entry into the race. He then ran as an Independent and earned 11.3 percent of the vote in the 2015 election.
Rick Strankman
Since 2015, Anglin has been on a legal crusade as he pursues a civil lawsuit against Alberta’s Chief Electoral Officer and others, alleging abuse of process. As reported on David Climenhaga’s AlbertaPolitics.ca, Anglin’s statement of claim alleges Elections Alberta “carried out unfounded investigations of Mr. Anglin’s activities in the election and prosecuted him improperly for violations of election laws, in the process damaging his reputation and destroying his chances of election, causing loss of future employment.”
A separate case that Anglin pursued against Elections Alberta over a $250 penalty imposed by the chief electoral officer related to the small font on his campaign signs during the 2015 election was dismissed by the Alberta Court of Appeal in September 2018.
When nominated, Anglin will face United Conservative Party MLA Jason Nixon, who defeated Anglin for the Wildrose Party nomination in 2014 and then again in the 2015 general election.
Strathmore-Brooks MLA Derek Fildebrandt, who also is a former Wildrose MLA, is expected to be acclaimed as leader of the Freedom Conservative Party at a leadership vote event on October 20, 2018 at the Watchman’s Pub in Calgary. Fildebrandt became the FCP’s first MLA in July 2018 after he was not allowed to rejoin the UCP following a string of embarrassing scandals.
Former City Councillor Brian Pincottannounced last week that he is seeking the New Democratic Party nomination in Calgary-Acadia, which overlaps part of the Ward 11 he represented on City Council from 2007 to 2017.
Before entering municipal politics, Pincott ran as the NDP candidate in Calgary-Southeast in the 2004 federal election and the NDP candidate in Calgary-Centre in 2006 federal election.
A nomination meeting will be held on October 25, 2018.
Dach nominated in McClung: NDP MLA Lorne Dach has been nominated as his party’s candidate in the southwest district of Edmonton-McClung. Dach was elected in 2015 in his fourth time as the NDP candidate in this affluent southwest Edmonton district. He will face Alberta Party leader Stephen Mandel and UCP candidate Laurie Mozeson in the next election.
Barb Miller
Miller goes for re-election in Red Deer: NDP MLA Barb Miller plans to seek her party’s nomination for re-election in Red Deer-South. Miller was elected in 2015 by earning 35.9 percent of the vote in a three-way split with PC Party candidate Darcy Mykytyshyn and Wildrose Party candidate Norman Wiebe. A nomination meeting has been scheduled for November 8, 2018.
Calgary-Currie – Lindsay Luhnau is seeking the Alberta Party nomination. Luhnau currently work as a business strategist with the City of Calgary and previously worked as a constituent assistant in the office of Ward 9 City Councillor Gian-Carlo Carra.
Calgary-North – Melanie Wen has been nominated as the Alberta Party candidate. Wen is a member of the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Board.
Calgary-North West – Andrew Bradley has been nominated as the Alberta Party candidate.
Edmonton-City Centre – Lily Le was acclaimed as the UCP candidate in Edmonton-City Centre after three other candidates withdrew from the contest. Le is the Co-Chair of the Vietnam Pavilion for Edmonton Heritage Festival and President of the Edmonton Viets Association.
Edmonton-Glenora – Glen Tickner has been selected as the Alberta Party candidate.
Edmonton-Riverview – Karamarie Barker is seeking the UCP nomination. Barker is a Crown Prosecutor with the Department of Justice and Solicitor General.
Lacombe-Ponoka – Myles Chykerda is seeking the Alberta Party nomination in this central Alberta district. Chykerda is a resident of the City of Lacombe and is completing his the final stages of a PhD in Classical Archaeology from the University of California in Los Angeles.
Lac Ste. Anne-Parkland – Following Dale Johnson’s removal as a candidate the UCP announced a second nomination vote would be held. Shane Getson is the first candidate to enter the contest. He is a manager of a pipeline construction and maintenance company.
Lesser Slave Lake – Pat Rehn is seeking the UCP nomination. Rehn is the owner of AAA Precision Industries and Precision Crane and Rentals. Meanwhile, Darryl Boisson has withdrawn from the UCP nomination contest in this district. Boisson was the Wildrose Party candidate in Lesser Slave Lake in the 2012 and 2015 elections.
Red Deer-North – Reg Warkentin has withdrawn from the UCP nomination contest. Warkentin is the policy and advocacy manager with the Red Deer and District Chamber of Commerce.
If you know any candidates who have announced their intentions to stand for party nominations, please send me an email at david.cournoyer@gmail.com. I will add them to the list. Thank you!
UCP-Soldiers of Odin saga continues
Lance Coulter
Edmonton-West Henday UCP nomination candidate Lance Coultertold Postmedia he thought he would give the Soldiers of Odin “the benefit of the doubt and have a conversation with them” before he took a photo with a member of the anti-immigration, white nationalist organization at a UCP event on October 5, 2018.
Nomination candidates Nicole Williams and Leila Houle, as well as the party leader have denounced the vigilante organization and its members.
Despite being vetted by the UCP’s supposedly “rigorous screening process,” Press Progress reported yesterday that Coulter has a history interacting with white nationalist and alt-right content on social media, including support for a Muslim ban in public schools. Press Progress reported that this activity took place while Coulter was employed as an assistant to Edmonton-Griesbach Member of Parliament Kerry Diotte.
When asked by The Star Edmonton about these allegations, Coulter replied that “I wish I knew I was a white-nationalist, otherwise I would have worn the 1930s Hugo Boss, but it’s utterly ridiculous. I mean, calling somebody a racist, a white-nationalist without any kind of substantial evidence in any way shape or form, it’s defamation of character.”
UCP members in Edmonton-West Henday vote to select their candidate on October 22, 2018. It is not clear whether UCP leader Jason Kenney will allow Coulter’s name to remain on the ballot.
UPDATE: Lance Coulter has been disqualifed as a UCP nomination candidate in Edmonton-West Henday. Here is the letter from UCP executive director Janice Harrington informing Coulter of his disqualification.
Photo: UCP nomination candidate Nicole Williams (second from the left) with members of the Soliders of Odin at a UCP event on October 5, 2018 (source: Facebook).
United Conservative Party candidates in the new district of Edmonton-West Henday say they had no idea they were posing for photos with members of the anti-immigration group Soldiers of Odin at a party event on October 5, 2018. Members of the vigilante group, who have been described as white nationalists, attended the UCP event in their club uniforms and posed for photos with nomination candidates Nicole Williams, Leila House and Lance Coulter.
Leila Houle (left) and the Soldiers of Odin
The party and two of the nomination candidates quickly denounced the photos, which were shared on social media first by the Soldiers of Odin and then by Progress Alberta. The candidates claimed they had no idea who the black clad group of vigilantes were, despite recentlocalnewscoverage and the fact that they appear to have been wearing their branded uniforms with big logos.
“Those running for public office are regularly photographed with members of the public. It is part of the job. We were unfortunately not aware of what the abbreviation ‘S.O.O’ stood for when these individuals entered the public venue in which the Constituency Association was holding an event, nor were we aware of this group’s disgusting views,” wrote Houle and Williams in a joint statement posted on Facebook.
Lance Coulter (right) and a Soldier of Odin.
It would be unfair to claim these nomination candidates share sympathies with the Soldiers of Odin, but a string of recentexamplesof UCP nomination candidates voicing anti-Muslim views online might be one reason why the group felt comfortable attending the event in their full regalia.
Lance Coulter, one of three United Conservative Party nomination candidates recently photographed partying with a white supremacist hate group, has a history interacting with white nationalist and alt-right content on social media.
A copy of the complaint shared with daveberta.ca showed the group of directors are requesting the party to investigate whether Ford meets the Alberta residency requirement to seek the nomination.
The complaint claims that Ford was until recently a resident of Ontario and that the party nomination rules require UCP candidates “to have physically lived on Albertan soil for one year before becoming a UCP candidate.”
Reached by email, Ford responded to the complaint: “The board members who signed this letter were misinformed. They also appear to have misunderstood the UCP’s residency requirements. A good faith mistake, I am sure.”
Ford is an international affairs specialist with a background in China and human rights. She has worked as a senior policy advisor with Global Affairs Canada. Ford was a panelist at a 2018 Manning Centre conference discussion about conservative culture in Canada.
Ford, Hlady, Becca Polak and Jeremy Wong are seeking the UCP nomination in this district. A date for the nomination vote has not yet been announced.
New Green Party leader Cheryle Chagnon-Greyeyes (photo source: @KingEddyYYC on Twitter)
Photo: New Green Party leader Cheryle Chagnon-Greyeyes at Canada Day celebrations in 2018 (photo source: @KingEddyYYC on Twitter)
Members of the Green Party of Alberta chose Cheryle Chagnon-Greyeyes as their new leader at a leadership selection meeting yesterday.
Chagnon-Greyeyes is an Indigenous social justice activist who currently works at the Native Centre at the University of Calgary. She is a member of the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation in Treaty 6 in Saskatchewan and is the first Indigenous woman to lead a political party in Alberta.
She defeated past leadership candidate Brian Deheer, a resident of Lac La Biche and chairperson of the Athabasca Watershed Council, and past election candidate Matt Levicki, a resident of Lamont with a background in media and broadcasting.
During the leadership selection process, the three candidates were asked a series of questions and their answers were posted on the Green Party website. Here are some of Chagnon-Greyeyes’ answers:
Chagnon-Greyeyes: The GPA can change the current discussion in this province and reframe the current focus on pipelines, profit and power. We can shift the focus to people, what they need to live a good life: clean water, a home, an education, enough to live on. Let’s get people out to vote, especially those who don’t vote. Why don’t they vote? They feel powerless: “What difference can one vote make?” We can empower those people and plant seeds of possibility in the minds of 25-50% of eligible voters who don’t go to the polls. This is an untapped resource, a possible groundswell of support! Let’s empower the people to unite to make this province a better place to live, with ‘enough’ for all Albertans: enough food, water, housing, health care, mental health support, government services and real help. Heck, we might even sway some NDs and UCPs!
Chagnon-Greyeyes: When we play or work outside – our well being is linked to biodiversity. Alberta’s biodiversity includes provincial parks, developed recreation areas, pristine wilderness, natural landscapes, conservation areas and biological diversity, including heritage appreciation and tourism.
But what if we can’t go outside – too smoky. How do we ensure environmental health and integrity, and protect Albertans’ health and safety, from natural phenomena, climate-related conditions and events? We adapt, responding quickly to natural disasters, to be ready for them, because their impact is so widespread and devastating.
Can we mitigate these risks? The Green Party of Alberta wants to introduce an Environmental Bill of Rights, and advocates for ethical resource development, creating new jobs without sacrificing our air, land, water, animals, birds, fish – biodiversity. Ethical resource development integrated with economic, environmental, social and cultural considerations, and the inclusiveness and recognition of Indigenous interests.
Chagnon-Greyeyes: The moratorium aims to slow down resource extraction, and thoughtfully envision a better future for Alberta based on sustainability, accountability, and responsibility for our environment. Decision-making in this province focuses on one steadfast belief: “We need pipelines to get our product to market”. This assumes that pipelines are the ONLY viable, affordable option to transport oil. Let’s challenge that myth!
Dr. Ian Gates is patenting a pipeline-free solution to getting Alberta’s oil reserves to market in a cheap, sustainable manner while reducing the environmental risk of oil transportation. Self-sealing bitumen pellets, with a liquid core and super-viscous skin, can float on water if spilled; the pellets can be safely collected and removed. They can be produced right at the wellhead, same energy used as to dilute bitumen for traditional shipping. “Pipelines are finite and go to finite spots. Railcars go to virtually every port on every coast.”
The Green Party ran candidates in 24 constituencies in the 2015 election and earned a total 7,321 votes across the province. According to a CBC report, party president Marco Reid has said the Greens hope to recruit 50 candidates to run in next year’s provincial election. The party has nominated two candidates as of today – Allie Tulick in Calgary-Glenmore and Thana Boonlert in Calgary-Mountain View.
Photo: UCP leader Jason Kenney and Calgary-Fish Creek MLA Richard Gotfried (source: Twitter)
MLA Richard Gotfried fended off a nomination challenge on September 7, 2018 against opponent Cindy Ross, becoming the United Conservative Party candidate in Calgary-Fish Creek. It was a contentious nomination race, with accusations of negative campaigning being tossed between the two camps and a third candidate dropping out before the vote was held.
Back in June 2017, party leader Jason Kenney promised “a rigorous screening process for prospective candidates to red light those who have advocated truly hateful views or who have serious reputational problems.”
Rutherford secures UCP nomination in Leduc-Beaumont
Brad Rutherford defeated former Wildrose Party candidate Sharon Smith and Scott Wickland to secure the UCP nomination in Leduc-Beaumont. Rutherford previously ran for a federal Conservative nomination in Edmonton-West ahead of the 2015 election and was the president of the local UCP association. He previously served with the Edmonton Police Service.
Banff-Kananaskis – Michael Zubkow is seeking the UCP nomination.
Calgary-Acadia – Lana Bentley is seeking the Alberta Party nomination.
Calgary-East –Gar Gar is the nominated Alberta Party candidate. Gar is the past president of the SAIT Students’ Association and ran for Calgary City Council in Ward 10 in the 2017 municipal elections.
Jamie Lall is seeking the UCP nomination in this east Calgary district. Lall’s name will be familiar to attentive readers of this website. In 2012, he unsuccessfully sought the Progressive Conservative nomination in Calgary-McCall and was later appointed as the PC candidate in Calgary-Buffalo, where he finished second to Liberal MLA Kent Hehr. He re-emerged in 2015 as a nomination candidate in Chestermere-Rockyview before he was disqualified by text-message in one of the more bizarre PC Party nomination scandals of that election cycle. He instead resigned from his position as president of the Calgary-McCall PC association and ran as an Independent candidate in that Chestermere-Rockyview, earning 5.3 percent of the vote. He then sought the PC Party nomination to run in the 2016 Calgary-Greenway by-election, but was unsuccessful in that bid. Lall was then banned from running for office for a 5-year period after failing to file his 2015 campaign financial statements on time with Elections Alberta, but a judge overturned that ban in 2017.
Calgary-Mountian View – Mark Hlady is seeking the UCP nomination. Hlady was the Progressive Conservative MLA for this district from 1993 to 2004, when he was defeated by Liberal David Swann. Hlady surprised many political watchers when he defeated Jim Prentice’s former Chief of Staff Jean-Sebastien Rioux to secure the PC Party nomination in 2015, setting up a rematch against Swann. But Hlady placed third with 23 percent of the vote behind Swann and New Democrat Marc Chikinda.
Edmonton-Mill Woods – Baljit Singh is seeking the UCP nomination.
Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo: UCP MLA Tany Yao has been acclaimed as his party’s candidate in this district. Yao was first elected in 2015 and currently serves as the Official Opposition Health Critic.
Strathcona-Sherwood Park – Dave Quest has been acclaimed as the Alberta Party candidate in this district east of Edmonton. Quest served as the Progressive Conservative MLA for this district from 2008 to 2015, when he was unseated by New Democrat Estefania Cortes-Vargas.
Vermilion-Lloydminster-Wainwright – Eileen Taylor and Darrel Howell are the latest candidates to enter the UCP nomination contest in this new rural district in east central Alberta. Eileen Taylor is a former teacher and he wife of retiring Battle River-Wainwright UCP MLA Wes Taylor (Mr. Taylor announced in May 2018 that he would not seek re-election because he is focusing on recovering from having undergone open heart surgery). The Taylor’s ran a real estate company before Mr. Taylor was elected in 2015. Howell is an engineer and was appointed as Chair of the Board of Governors of Lakelake College in 2014. He is a former president and chairman of Tartan Canada Corporation.
West Yellowhead – Kirstie Gomuwka is seeking the Alberta Party nomination. Gomuwka is a director of the Edson Friendship Centre and was a candidate for trustee with the Grande Yellowhead Public School District in October 2017. She is married to Town of Edson Mayor Kevin Zahara, who also served as press secretary to former West Yellowhead PC MLA Robin Campbell until his defeat to New Democrat Eric Rosendahl in the 2015 election.
If you know any candidates who have announced their intentions to stand for party nominations, please send me an email at david.cournoyer@gmail.com. I will add them to the list. Thank you!
NDP Convention moved to October
The New Democratic Party will now hold their convention on October 26, 27 and 28 at the Westin Hotel in downtown Edmonton. As noted in a previous article, the NDP had initially scheduled their convention for September 28, 29 and 30, 2018 in Red Deer. The NDP convention will now take place the weekend immediately before the Legislative Assembly is expected to reconvene for the fall sitting, on October 29, 2018.
Alberta political party leaders: NDP leader Rachel Notley, UCP leader Jason Kenney, Alberta Party leader Stephen Mandel, Liberal leader David Khan, Freedom Conservative leader Derek Fildebrandt.
Photo: Alberta political party leaders – Rachel Notley, Jason Kenney, Stephen Mandel, David Khan, and Derek Fildebrandt.
We are now somewhere between seven and ten months away from the next provincial general election in Alberta. For the past seven provincial elections, leaders of the main political parties have participated in televised leaders debates, and while a lot of media and political attention is focused on these events, their impact on the outcome of the election varies.
Which party leaders are invited to participate in the debates, which are typically organized by private news media companies, can sometimes be contentious. Generally, only leaders whose parties have elected MLAs in the previous general election have been invited, but this has not always been the case. Unlike our neighbours to the south, there are no official rules or commission governing who is invited, which has led to inconsistencies since the televised leaders debates began in Alberta in 1993.
Assuming one is held, let’s take a look at who might and might not be invited to participate in a televised leaders debate held in Alberta’s next provincial election, which is expected to be called between March 1 and May 31, 2019.
Rachel Notley and Jason Kenney: Notley and United Conservative Party leader Jason Kenney are shoe-ins to participate in the leaders debate. Notley is the current Premier of Alberta and Kenney leads the Official Opposition UCP. Although the UCP did not exist in the last election, the party has won three by-elections since it was formed in 2017.
David Khan: Liberal Party leader David Khan is not a sitting MLA and his party’s sole MLA, former leader David Swann, is not seeking re-election. This is the first election since 1986 that the Liberals will not have an incumbent MLA running for re-election. Khan is running for election in Swann’s Calgary-Mountain View district. While the party has had one elected MLA since 2015, the party’s lack of incumbent MLAs and declining relevance in Alberta politics could lead to the Liberals not being invited to join next year’s debate.
The Derek Fildebrandt Question:Derek Fildebrandt is a sitting MLA and most likely will be leader of the Freedom Conservative Party when the next election is called. He was first elected as the Wildrose Party MLA for Strathmore-Brooks in 2015 and joined the FCP in 2018. His party did not elect any MLAs in 2015, but neither did the UCP, which was formed in 2017 by MLAs who were previously members of the PC and Wildrose parties.
Fildebrandt has said his party will not run candidates in all districts, only focusing on districts where the NDP is not considered to be competitive. This means that most viewers tuning in to the televised debate will not have the option of voting for a Freedom Conservative Party candidate on Election Day, but a lack of a full-slate has not stopped leaders from being invited to the debates in the past.
Fildebrandt is a fiery quote-machine and his participation in the debates would undoubtably create some entertainment value for viewers. While I suspect Notley and Mandel would be supportive of Fildebrandt’s involvement in the debate, I expect that Kenney would not be eager to share a stage with Fildebrandt. As I predicted on a recent episode of the Daveberta Podcast, I suspect Kenney could threaten to withhold his participation in the debate if Fildebrandt is invited to join.
As for the format of a leaders debate, as I have written before, my preference would be to hold in front of a live audience, rather than a sterile and controlled television studio. This would allow the party leaders to demonstrate their debating skills and a live audience would add an atmosphere of unpredictability and would force the leaders to speak to both the voters in the room and those watching their television screens.
A History of Leaders Debates in Alberta Elections
Here is a quick history of leaders debates during general elections in Alberta:
1967 election – Four party leaders participated in this debate: Social Credit leader Ernest Manning, PC Party leader Peter Lougheed, NDP leader Neil Reimer and Liberal leader Michael Maccagno. Lougheed had initially challenged Manning to a televised debate, but a public debate was held instead. The meeting was sponsored by the City Centre Church Council and held in downtown Edmonton. The leaders fielded questions from the audience of the packed church.
The Calgary Herald reported that “…Manning was booed by a small contingent of hecklers while the new leader of the Conservatives reportedly “appeared to score heavily and draw the most applause.”
At the time of the debate, only Manning and Maccagno were MLAs. Reimer was not an MLA but there was one incumbent NDP MLA, Garth Turcott, who had been elected in a 1965 by-election in Pincher Creek-Crowsnest. Lougheed was not an MLA and his party had not elected an MLA since the 1959 election.
1971-1989 elections – No leaders debates were held during the 1971, 1975, 1979, 1982, 1986 and 1989 elections. Lougheed was challenged by opposition leaders, including NDP leader Grant Notley and Western Canada Concept leader Gordon Kesler, to participate in a televised debate but were turned down. Don Getty also refused to debate his opponents on television.
1993 election – Three party leaders participated in two televised debates: PC Party leader Ralph Klein, NDP leader Ray Martin, and Liberal Party leader Laurence Decore. The first debate was held in-front of a live studio audience and was broadcast on CFCN in Calgary and CFRN in Edmonton. The second debate was held without a live studio audience and broadcast on Channel 2&7 in Calgary and ITV in Edmonton.
1997 election – Four party leaders participated in this televised debate organized by the Alberta Chamber of Commerce and broadcast by CBC: PC Party leader Ralph Klein, Liberal Party leader Grant Mitchell, NDP leader Pam Barrett, and Social Credit Party leader Randy Thorsteinson.
Barrett and Thorsteinson were invited to participate despite not being MLAs at the time and neither of their parties having elected any MLAs in the previous election. The NDP and Social Credit Party did not nominate a full slate, with only 77 and 70 candidates running in 83 districts.
2001 election – Three leaders participated in this televised debate organized by Calgary Herald and Global News: PC Party leader Ralph Klein, Liberal leader Nancy MacBeth and NDP leader Raj Pannu. The three major parties nominated candidates in all 83 districts.
2004 election – Three leaders participated in this televised debate broadcast by Global Television: PC Party leader Ralph Klein, Liberal leader Kevin Taft and NDP leader Brian Mason.
Despite having been invited to join the televised debate in 1997, Alberta Alliance leader Randy Thorsteinson was not allowed to join in 2004 because he was not an MLA and his new party did not elect any members in the previous election. The party had one MLA, former Edmonton-Norwood PC MLA Gary Masyk, who crossed the floor in the months before the election was called.
The PCs, NDP and the Alberta Alliance nominated candidates in all 83 districts in this election. The Liberals nominated candidates in 82 of 83 districts.
2008 election – Four leaders participated in this debate broadcast on Global, CTV and CBC: PC Party leader Ed Stelmach, Liberal Party leader Kevin Taft, NDP leader Brian Mason and Wildrose Alliance leader Paul Hinman. Hinman was the Alberta Alliance Party’s sole elected MLA in the 2004 election before the party changed its name to the Wildrose Alliance (he would be defeated in his bid for re-election in Cardston-Taber-Warner in 2008).
The Wildrose Alliance nominated 61 candidates in 83 districts. Green Party leader George Read was not invited to participate in the debate, despite his party nominating candidates in 79 of 83 districts (the Greens would earn 4.5 percent of the total province-wide vote, only slightly behind the 6.7 percent earned by the Wildrose Alliance in this election).
2012 election – Four leaders participated in this debate broadcast by Global and streamed on the internet: PC Party leader Alison Redford, Wildrose Party leader Danielle Smith, Liberal Party leader Raj Sherman and NDP leader Brian Mason.
Alberta Party leader Glenn Taylor was not invited to join the leaders debate, despite his party having one MLA in the Legislature. Former Liberal MLA Dave Taylor became the Alberta Party’s first MLA in 2011. The Alberta Party nominated 38 candidates in 87 districts.
2015 election – Four leaders participated in this debate broadcast by Global: PC leader Jim Prentice, NDP leader Rachel Notley, Wildrose Party leader Brian Jean, and Liberal leader David Swann. Despite only narrowly losing a 2014 by-election in Calgary-Elbow, Alberta Party leader Greg Clark was not invited to join the debate. Clark would go on to be elected in Calgary-Elbow in this election.
The NDP and PCs nominated candidates in all 87 districts, while the Wildrose Party nominated 86 candidate and the Liberals nominated 56. The Alberta Party nominated 36 candidates in 87 districts.
In Drayton Valley-Devon, MLA Mark Smith defeated challenger Andrew Boitchenko in a vote held for the United Conservative Party nomination on August 29, 2018. Smith was first elected in 2015, earning 37 percent of the vote and unseating Progressive Conservative cabinet minister and former Drayton Valley mayor Diana McQueen, who earned 30 percent of the vote.
Nasty UPC nomination race allegedly gets physical
Deepak Obhrai
Long-time Calgary Conservative Member of Parliament Deepak Obhraiinserted himself into a contentious UCP nomination race this week. Obhrai held a press conference in his Calgary-Forest Lawn constituency office with local radio and TV host Kumar Sharma, who alleges he was threatened and then physically assaulted by a gang of men after publishing a Facebook post that referenced UCP nomination candidate Happy Mann.
Mann is a two-time Wildrose Party candidate who is now seeking the UCP nomination in the new Calgary-Falconridge district in northeast Calgary. In a statement sent to various media companies, Mann denied any connection to the alleged incident and maintained that the accusations were politically motivated.
Here are some more of the latest updates to the growing list of Alberta election nomination candidates:
Calgary-Foothills – Jennifer Wyness has been nominated as the Alberta Party candidate in this northwest Calgary district. Wyness placed second in the Ward 2 contest in Calgary’s 2017 municipal election, finishing with 36 percent to incumbent councillor Joe Magliocca‘s 49 percent.
Calgary-Lougheed – Mount Royal University policy studies student Rachel Timmermans is seeking the Alberta Party nomination in this southeast Calgary district. If nominatied, Timmermans will face UCP leader Jason Kenney in the 2019 election.
Calgary-Mountain View – Becca Polak is seeking the UCP nomination in this district. Polak is the former Vice-President of Communications for the Wildrose Party and served as a member of the UCP interim board from 2017 to 2018.
Calgary-North – Manpreet Sidhu is the sixth candidate to join the UCP nomination in this new north Calgary district.
Edmonton-Gold Bar – NDP MLA Marlin Schmidt is expected to be confirmed as his party’s candidate at a nomination meeting on September 20, 2018. Schmidt currently serves as Minister of Advanced Education. Schmidt was elected in 2015 with 68.9 percent of the vote and his crushing 11,205 vote margin of victory, the largest in any district in that election, earned him the nickname “Hurricane Marlin.”
Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood – Brian Gratrix seeking the Alberta Party nomination. Also running for the Alberta Party nomination in this district is past city council candidate Tish Prouse.
Edmonton-Manning – Harinder Grewal is the latest candidate to join the UCP nomination contest in this district.
Livingstone-Macleod – Dylin Hauser has been nominated as the Liberal Party candidate, Tim Meech has been nominated as the Alberta Party candidate, and Thomas Schneider has joined the UCP nomination contest. Schnieder is a former Area Sales Representative with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
If you know any candidates who have announced their intentions to stand for party nominations, please send me an email at david.cournoyer@gmail.com. I will add them to the list. Thank you!
More than 200 people packed into the Bellevue Community Hall tonight to support Janis Irwin’s bid for the NDP nomination in Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood.
Photo: More than 200 people packed into the Bellevue Community Hall tonight to support Janis Irwin’s bid for the NDP nomination in Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood.
Janis Irwin launched her campaign for the New Democratic Party nomination in Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood this evening at the Bellevue Community Hall. Irwin is a community advocate and educator, and she was the federal NDP candidate in Edmonton-Griesbach in the 2015 election, where she placed a strong-second behind Conservative candidate Kerry Diotte.
Janis Irwin (source: Facebook)
Her campaign launched was attended by more than 200 supporters, including Edmonton-Ellerslie MLA Rod Loyola, and public school trustees Bridget Stirling and Michael Janz.
Irwin currently works as a Director of Stakeholder Relations in the Office of the Premier.
The area has been represented by outgoing NDP MLABrian Mason since 2000 and and is considered to be one of the strongest NDP-voting districts in Alberta. Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood makes up the Orange Core of the federal Edmonton-Griesbach district. (Note: I live in Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood, so I have a particularly keen interest in this nomination contest).
A nomination meeting has been scheduled for October 23, 2018 at the Alberta Avenue Community Hall.
Former Kenney staffer nominated in Peace River
Daniel Williams
Daniel Williams defeated Mackenzie County deputy reeve Lisa Wardley to secure the UCP nomination in this sprawling northern Alberta district. Williams worked as a political staffer for Jason Kenney in Ottawa before returning to Alberta to seek the UCP nomination in Peace River.
Three candidates dropped out of what had been a 5-candidate race in June and July, and Wardley raised concerns that the locations and hours of nomination votes in this large rural district would make it difficult for UCP members not living in the main urban centres to participate in the vote.
Eleventh MLA announces retirement in 2019
NDP MLA Jamie Kleinsteuberannounced on social media that he will not seeking re-election in 2019. Kleinsteuber was first elected in 2015 in Calgary-Northern Hills and in 2019 the district is being redistribtued between the Calgary-Beddington, Calgary-North and Calgary-North East districts.
Kleinsteuber becomes the eleventh MLA to announce plans not to seek re-election in 2019. The list of retiring MLAs now include five UCP MLAs, four NDP MLAs, one Liberal MLA and one Independent MLA.
Calgary-Mountain View – Liberal Party leader David Khan has been nominated as his party’s candidate in this north central Calgary district. This area has been represented by Liberal MLA David Swann since 2004. Swann is not seeking re-election.
Calgary-North East – Mandeep Shergill is seeking the UCP nomination. Shergill works as a Constituency Assistant to Calgary-Greenway MLA Prab Gill, who was seeking the UCP nomination in this district before he resigned from the UCP caucus following allegations of ballot-stuffing at the local UCP association’s annual general meeting.
Edmonton-Castle Downs – Ed Ammar defeated Arthur Hagen and Gennadi Boitchenko to win the UCP nomination. Ammar is a real estate agent and served as the first chairman of the UCP interim board following the formation of the party in 2017. Ammar was the Liberal Party candidate in Edmonton-Decore in the 2012 election and president of the Wildrose Party association in Edmonton-Castle Downs in 2016.
Edmonton-City Centre – Lily Le is the third candidate seeking the UCP nomination in this downtown Edmonton district.
Edmonton-Mill Woods – Abdi Bakal is seeking the Liberal Party nomination in this southeast Edmonton district. This area was represented by Liberal MLAs Don Massey from 1993 to 2004 and Weslyn Mather from 2004 to 2008. Tariq Chaudhry is seeking the UCP nomination. Chaudhry is the owner of the Maharaja Banquet Hall.
Edmonton-South – Pramod Kumar defeated Enayat Aminzadah to win the Alberta Party nomination. William Farrell becomes the fifth candidate to join the UCP nomination contest.
Edmonton-South West – Former PC MLA Sohail Quadri is seeking the UCP nomination. Quadri previously represented Edmonton-Mill Woods from 2012 to 2015. From 2014 to 2015, he served as Legislative Secretary to Premier Jim Prentice. He was unseated in 2015 by NDP candidate Christina Gray.
Grande Prairie – Tracy Allard was acclaimed as the UCP canddiate. School trustee John Lehners withdrew from the contest after serious car accident. According to the Grande Prairie Daily Herald Tribune, Lehners’s brush with death made politics seem less important. “When I was hanging upside down I wasn’t thinking about running for MLA. I’m thinking about my dog, I’m thinking about my family, I’m thinking about my friends and what I’m going to do next and ‘Thank God I’m alive,’” Lehners told the Daily Herald Tribune.
Lacombe-Ponoka -Lacombe City Councillor Thalia Hibbs is seeking the UCP nomination in this central Alberta district. The district is currently represented by UCP MLA Ron Orr, who was elected as a Wildrose MLA in 2015.
Lesser Slave Lake– Darryl Boisson is seeking the UCP nomination in this sprawling northern Alberta district. This will be Boisson’s third attempt at provincial office in this district. He was the Wildrose Party candidate in Lesser Slave Lake in the 2012 and 2015 elections.
If you know any candidates who have announced their intentions to stand for party nominations, please send me an email at david.cournoyer@gmail.com. I will add them to the list. Thank you!
Photo: Tom Olsen and Ric McIver (source: Facebook)
Lobbyist Tom Olsen surprised many political watchers last weekend when he defeated Megan McCaffery in the United Conservative Party nomination contest in Calgary-Buffalo. McCaffery, who has strong ties with the Manning Centre and had the endorsement of 9 UCP MLAs, was believed to be the favourite to win the contest in Calgary’s downtown district.
Attentive readers of this blog will remember Olsen as the former spokesperson for Premier Ed Stelmach and later as Vice-President of Communications for the Progressive Conservative Party during Jim Prentice‘s brief reign. Olsen currently works as a lobbyist and his clients include the Calgary Residential Rental Association and Greyhound. Until recently, his client list included the Canadian Consumer Finance Association, the national group representing Pay Day Loan companies.
Tom Olsen crossing the picket-line during the strike by unionized staff, including reporters, at the Calgary Herald. The strike lasted from November 1999 to July 2000.
Before taking a job in the Premier’s Office, Olsen worked as a reporter and politics columnist for the Calgary Herald. He crossed the picket-line and continued to work at the Herald while many of his colleagues and co-workers went on strike from November 1999 to July 2000.
Olsen will face New Democratic Party candidate and provincial Finance Minister Joe Ceci in the next election. This district has not been fertile ground for conservative parties in the past, as it elected NDP or Liberal candidates in 8 of the past 10 elections.
Khan to run in Mountain View
David Khan
Liberal Party leader David Khan will run in the Calgary-Mountain View district in the next election. Khan will run to succeed his party’s only current MLA, David Swann, who is planning to retire from politics after serving four-terms in the Legislature.
Khan will face NDP Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley, who currently represents Calgary-Buffalo but is seeking re-election in Mountain View, and Green candidate Thana Boonlert. Caylan Ford and Jeremy Wong are seeking the UCP nomination.
This will be Khan’s fourth attempt to win a seat in the Legislative Assembly. He previously ran in the 2014 by-election in Calgary-West, the 2015 general election in Calgary-Buffalo, and the 2017 by-election in Calgary-Lougheed.
Calgary-Currie – Dan Morrison is the sixth candidate to join the UCP nomination contest in this district. Morrison was previously a candidate for the federal Conservative nomination in Calgary-Signal HIll, where he cried foul after being disqualified by the party.
Calgary-Varsity – Jason Copping is seeking the UCP nomination. Copping is co-chair of the UCP policy committee. He is a labour relations consultant, teaches at the University of Calgary, and is a member of the Alberta Labour Relations Board.
Camrose – Jackie Lovely is seeking the UCP nomination. Lovely now lives in Camrose, but she previously was the Wildrose Party candidate in Edmonton-Ellerslie in the 2012 and 2015 elections. She is a former Wildrose Caucus staffer and past president of the Summerside Community League.
Edmonton-Castle Downs – UCP members in this north Edmonton district will select their candidate on July 26, 2018. The three candidates contesting this nomination are Ed Ammar, Gennadi Boitchenko, and Arthur Hagen. Ammar is a former Liberal candidate who played a large role in the formation of the UCP as the chair of the new party’s interim board. He is being endorsed by such conservative luminaries as Craig Chandler.
Edmonton-Glenora – David Salopek is seeking the UCP nomination.
Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood – George Lam is seeking the UCP nomination. Many Edmontonians may remember Lam as a frequent municipal election candidate who played a role as spokesperson for the mysterious Henry Mak during the 2017 mayoral election. Lam earned 760 votes in his 2017 bid for Edmonton Public School Board trustee in Ward A.
Edmonton-Riverview – NDP MLA Lori Sigurdson will seek her party’s candidacy for re-election at a nomination meeting scheduled for August 14, 2018. Sigurdson is Minister of Seniors and Housing.
Lethbridge-West – Real Estate Agent Karri Flatla is seeking the UCP nomination.
Livingstone-Macleod – Dylin Hauser is seeking the Liberal Party nomination. A nomination meeting has been scheduled for August 23, 2018.
West Yellowhead – Ray Hilts is seeking the UCP nomination. Hilts has served on Whitecourt Town Council since October 2017. He is a director with the Alberta Forest Alliance.
If you know any candidates who have announced their intentions to stand for party nominations, please send me an email at david.cournoyer@gmail.com. I will add them to the list. Thank you!
