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Alberta Politics

Alberta candidate update: 111 days until Canada’s federal election

With only 111 days left until Canada’s next federal election, parties are scrambling to nominate candidates in Alberta’s thirty-four new electoral ridings. Despite their win in the recent provincial election and a sharp rise in the polls, the federal NDP are still far behind in choosing candidates in Alberta, with only four five of thirty-four candidates nominated. The Conservatives recently lost one incumbent following the surprise announcement by MP James Rajotte that he would not seek re-election. The federal Liberals have nominated at least 23 candidates.

Here are some of the latest additions to the list of candidates nominated and seeking nominations to run in the federal election in Alberta:

Calgary-Forest Lawn: Myra D’Souza is seeking the NDP nomination in this east Calgary riding. Ms. D’Souza was a candidate for the Calgary Catholic School Board elections in 2013 and is currently serving her third term as a member of Calgary’s Co-op.

Calgary Heritage: Dr. Brendan Miles has been nominated as the Liberal candidate in this southwest Calgary riding. The physician will challenge Conservative Party leader and Prime Minister Stephen Harper in the October 2015 election.

Calgary-Midnapore: Laura Weston has been nominated as the NDP candidate in this south Calgary constituency. Formerly nominated candidate Michael Connolly was elected as the MLA for Calgary-Hawkwood on May 5, 2015.

Calgary Nose Hill: The Liberals have nominated Ala Buzreba as their candidate. Ms. Buzreba currently studies at the University of Calgary and works with the City of Calgary’s Community and Neighbourhood Services.

Calgary Shepherd: Mechanical engineer Jerome James is the nominated Liberal candidate.

Calgary Signal Hill: The Liberals have nominated lawyer Katherine Kowalchuk to challenge former Progressive Conservative Finance Minister Ron Liepert in this west Calgary riding. She is the founder of Law Boutique and has served on the boards of the Association of Women Lawyers, Commercial Real Estate Women, and the Calgary Women’s Emergency Shelter.

Edmonton-Manning: Artist and advocate Aaron Paquette, community activist Jeanne Lehman, and University of Alberta english instructor Glenda Baker are seeking the NDP nomination in this newly redrawn north east Edmonton riding. Mr. Paquette was one of the creators of the #Ottawapiskat hashtag, that satirized criticisms of the Idle No More protests.

Edmonton Riverbend: With the announcement last week by Mr. Rajotte that he would not seek re-election, former PC MLA Matt Jeneroux has announced plans to seek the Conservative nomination. Mr. Jeneroux was first elected in the 2012 provincial election and was unseated in May 2015 by NDP candidate Thomas Dang.

Edmonton-West: Former Edmonton Public School Board trustee Heather Mackenzie and hotelier Jim Hill are seeking the NDP nomination. The Liberals have nominated former city councillor and mayoral candidate Karen Leibovici as their candidate.

Lethbridge: Michael Pyne has been nominated as the Liberal candidate.

Sherwood Park – Fort Saskatchewan: Joanne Cave and Adam Comartin are seeking the NDP nomination. Mr. Comartin is the son of retiring NDP MP Joe Comartin, who has represented a Windsor-area riding since 2000.

Sturgeon River-ParklandGuy Desforges has announced plans to seek the NDP nomination in this new riding, which includes areas west and north of Edmonton.

3 replies on “Alberta candidate update: 111 days until Canada’s federal election”

I certainly hope NDP in the lead is today’s “Dewey Defeats Truman”. One need only look to see how well the Orange Revolution has served Quebec. If there was ever a time to do away with FPTP….

While I wholeheartedly support electoral reform, there is no evidence the population as a whole does. Every time an alternative to FPTP has been put to the electorate in this country, it has been soundly rejected.

This is also a strong argument against criticisms that the new NDP gov’t in Alberta doesn’t really have a majority mandate, due to the Wildrose & PCs together having taken a majority of the popular vote. The NDP won a majority of seats under our FPTP system, and this is the system we have and that our electorally unsophisticated population seems to want to keep.

“…[O]ur electorally unsophisticated population seems to want to keep.” Really? Like when has this EVER come to a vote? Time and time again we see “winners” (double entendre alert!!) gaining a seat with far from a majority vote. In a bicameral party situation, FPTP makes sense, but the tyranny of the minority comes into play at the civic, provincial and national level enough times to make a rational person question where there is any sort of reasonable representation.

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