Matthew McMillan – daveberta.ca

Calgary-Centre By-Election called for November 26, 2012.

Map of the Calgary-Centre federal riding.

A by-election will be held in the federal riding of Calgary-Centre on November 26, 2012.

The by-election is being held to replace former Conservative Member of Parliament Lee Richardson, who resigned earlier this year to become Premier Alison Redford‘s Principal Secretary.

Four candidates have been nominated to run in the by-election: Ben Christienson (Progressive Canadian), Joan Crockatt (Conservative), Harvey Locke (Liberal), Chris Turner (Green). Three New Democrats will seek their party’s nomination scheduled for ~~October 27~~ October 23. The NDP nominees are Brian Malkinson, Matthew McMillan, and Dan Meades.

To assist Calgary-Centre voters in making their decision about who to cast their ballot for, I have created a special webpage with information and links to the candidates websites and social media profiles.

Winter is coming and so is the a by-election in Calgary-Centre.

Calgary-Centre by-election Liberals NDP — The Liberals and New Democrats enter the Calgary-Centre by-election contest.

Conservative candidate Joan Crockatt and Green candidate Chris Turner are no longer alone in Calgary-Centre, as the field of candidates is filling out. Time is also running out for Prime Minister Stephen Harper to set the date for the by-election.

Late last month, the Liberals nominated lawyer and conservationist Harvey Locke. Soon after his nomination Mr. Locke was boosted by a visit from Justin Trudeau, who launched his leadership campaign a day earlier in his Montreal riding of Papineau.

Winter is Coming Chris Turner — Calgary-Centre Green candidate Chris Turner is targeting the highly influential “Game of Thrones” voters.

Late to the game, the New Democrats are finally starting the process of nominating a candidate to run in the by-election. The three candidates seeking the yet-to-be scheduled nomination contest for the yet-to-be called by-election are recent provincial NDP candidate Brent Maklinson, social media consultant Scott Payne, and Matthew McMillan.

After a number of rumoured high-profile candidates declined to seek the nomination, the NDP focused much of their energy over the summer on organizing a functional riding association in Calgary-Centre. In 2011, a parachute candidate earned 14% of the vote for the NDP.

Meanwhile, the 1 Calgary Centre group is holding an “Unconference for post-partisan politics in Calgary.” On September 21, I joined 1 Calgary Centre organizer Brian Singh and Athabasca University political scientist Jay Smith to discuss the potential for 1 Calgary Centre to effect the by-election race (I shared some thoughts on this topic in a previous blog post).