A whole load of candidates have been nominated in the past week. In Calgary, three Alberta Liberal candidates were nominated last night Laura Shutiak in Calgary-Fish Creek, Lori Czerwinski in Calgary-Lougheed, and John Roggeveen in Calgary-Shaw.
The saga of Craig Chandler and his victory in the Calgary-Egmont Progressive Conservative nomination continues as the constituency President is now demanding a seat at the table when Ed Stelmach and the PC Inner Circle meet to decide Chandler’s fate this weekend.
In Edmonton…
Edmonton-Ellerslie – Naresh Bhardwaj was nominated as the PC candidate to take on Alberta Liberal MLA Bharat Agnihotri in the next election. Bhardwaj ran for the nominated against 1993 Edmonton-Ellerslie PC candidate Bas Roopnarine and 2001 PC candidate Sukhi Randhawa (of ‘Booze for Votes‘ fame). In 2004, Edmonton-Ellerslie was a three-way race between Agnihotri, Tory Gurnam Dodd, and ND Marilyn Assheton-Smith.
Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood – Former Liberal/Independent/PC MLA Andrew Beniuk defeated T.J. Keil for the Tory nod. Though I was rooting for T.J. (yes, I was rooting for a Tory), I think Beniuk’s name recognition might help him do decently against ND leader Brian Mason in the now merged constituency that Beniuk formerly represented.
Edmonton-Meadowlark – The Alberta Liberals have nominated Debbie Cavaliere to run for the spot of retiring MLA Maurice Tougas. Cavaliere will take on PC candidate Raj Sherman in what is sure to be a hot and probably close race. In 2004, Maurice Tougas surprised many when he defeated backbench Tory MLA Bob Maskell by a slim margin of +100 votes. Edmonton-Meadowlark was also a close race in 2001 when Maskell unseated Alberta Liberal MLA Karen Leibovici.
Edmonton-Mill Woods – The Tories have nominated Carl Benito to run against Alberta Liberal MLA Weslyn Mather. Benito ran unsuccessfully against MLA Don Massey in Edmonton-Mill Woods in 2001. Mather was elected in 2004 with a margin of +2,000 votes over Naresh Bhardwaj (who is now the nominated PC candidate in Edmonton-Ellerslie).
Other recent nominations include Robin Campbell for the Tories in West Yellowhead and Horst Schreiber for the Alberta Liberals in Battle River-Wainwright.
Click here for an up to date list of Alberta provincial election candidates.
