The Alberta PCs are holding their nomination meeting in Edmonton-Beverly-Clareview tonight. A Conservative bird informed me that the Tories in Edmonton-Beverly-Clareview were causing a stir a couple of months ago when they threatened to hold a “protest nomination meeting” to protest the PC party’s nomination rules.
Edmonton-Beverly-Clareview should be an interesting race and is definitely in the ‘one’s to watch‘ column. With NDP MLA Ray Martin running for re-election, he will face a strong challenge from Alberta Liberal Dawit Isaac. Depending who the Tories nominate in Edmonton-Beverly-Clareview, it could get even more interesting. Martin defeated Liberal-turned-Tory MLA Julius Yankowski in 2004. Yankowski was elected as an Alberta Liberal in 1993, but quickly crossed the floor to wilt away in the Tory backbenches until 2004.
Further south, there’s the question of what’s going on in Calgary-Montrose. It seems that all has been quiet on the Calgary-Montrose front with no Tory nomination meeting schedules for this east Calgary constituency. With Calgary-Montrose Tory MLA Hung Pham (aka the MIA MLA) having ties to those connected with the Ward 10 scandal in the 2004 Calgary municipal election, I’m sure Pham is a caucus member that many Tory MLAs wouldn’t miss being associated with. In 2004, various Calgary-Montrose Tories ended up in court after challenger Gus Barron was disqualified from the Tory nomination race.
The ND’s have been nominating a flurry of candidates across the province. In the new hotbed of the New Democratic revolution, Tophie Davies will carry the NDP banner against Tory Luke Ouellette in Innisfail-Sylvan Lake. Also in the ND corner, Sidney Sadik was nominated in Edmonton-Decore. Sadik will face incumbent-Alberta Liberal MLA Bill Bonko and Tory candidate and former Catholic School Trustee Janice Sarich.
Also, it looks like the ND’s are setting up to nominate an ND-sized big candidate in Edmonton-Gold Bar to take on Alberta Liberal MLA Hugh MacDonald (Janice Melnychuk?). Edmonton-Gold Bar has been one of the strongest Alberta Liberal supporting constituencies since 1986 when former Edmonton City Councillor Bettie Hewes was elected. Hewes served as MLA until 1997, when Hugh MacDonald was first elected. In 2004, MacDonald was re-elected with the second largest margin of victory in the province.
