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Alberta Politics

75 days until Election Day – Tuesday Evening Nomination Update from Alberta

Three days into the 2015 federal election, parties are still nominating candidates in Alberta’s thirty-four ridings. Here are the latest updates to the growing list of candidates:

Calgary-Midnapore: Brennan Wauters is the nominated Green Party candidate in this south east Calgary riding. Mr. Walter was the 2011 Green candidate in the British Columbia riding of West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea-to-Sky Country.

Calgary-Nose HillFaizan Butt will run for the Democratic Advancement Party of Canada.

Edmonton-Riverbend: The Conservatives will choose their candidate on August 5, 2015. Competing for the nomination are former one-term Progressive Conservative MLA Matt Jeneroux, past Wildrose Party candidate Ian Crawford and realtor Sandy Pon.

Red Deer-Mountain View: Former Green Party candidate Evan Bedford is now running for the NDP nomination against public school trustee Dianne Macaulay. Mr. Bedford was initially nominated to run for the Greens in this election but withdrew his nomination to run for the NDP. He also ran as a Green candidate in the 2008 federal election in Red Deer and 2008 provincial election in Red Deer-South.

Sherwood ParkFort Saskatchewan: Kevin Fichtner is the third candidate to enter the NDP nomination contest in this riding. Already competing for the nomination are Joanne Cave and Adam Comartin. The nomination meeting is scheduled to be held on August 14, 2015.

Peace River-Westlock: Three candidates are seeking the NDP nomination schedule to take place on August 30, 2015. Former Assembly of First Nations regional representative Cameron Alexis, former Peace River town councillor and school board trustee Wanda Laurin and lawyer Jennifer Villebrun (who ran for the NDP in the 2011 federal election and the Greens in the 2008 federal election in the now defunct Peace River riding).

St. Albert-Edmonton: Liberals in this riding are in sorry state, according to an article published in the St. Albert Gazette on July 29, 2015.

The article, which was not published on the paper’s website, reports that one candidate, Randy Williams, withdrew his nomination because the party failed to review his nomination application in a timely fashion. Mr. Williams also states that a “lack of party fundraising, insufficient volunteers, a resigning riding president stating his intention to vote for the NDP” led to his decision to withdraw. Local riding president Barry Barclay is reported to have announced plans to step down due to ideological differences with the Liberal Party over Bill C-51.

The Gazette also reported that AlbertaPolitics.ca blogger David Climenhaga has put his name forward for the NDP nomination, but is still awaiting approval from the party headquarters. In this opinion of this blogger, Mr. Climenhaga would make an excellent candidate and the NDP would be foolish to turn him down.

Still behind in their nomination process, the NDP have pushed forward nomination meetings in the following ridings:

  • Banff-Airdrie on August 15, 2015
  • Bow River on August 15, 2015
  • Calgary-Confederation on August 9, 2015
  • Calgary-Forest Lawn on August 6, 2015
  • Calgary-Heritage on August 26, 2015
  • Calgary-Nose Hill on August 25, 2015
  • Calgary-Rocky Ridge on August 20, 2015
  • Calgary-Skyview on August 15, 2015
  • Edmonton-Centre on August 11, 2015
  • Edmonton-Mill Woods on August 26, 2015
  • Edmonton-Riverbend on August 27, 2015
  • Edmonton-Wetaskiwin on August 17, 2015
  • Yellowhead on August 19, 2015

Please email david.cournoyer [at] gmail.com if there are any further additions to the list. Thank you.

4 replies on “75 days until Election Day – Tuesday Evening Nomination Update from Alberta”

The early writ drop has caught the NDP a bit behind the 8-ball, at least outside of the two metro areas. I’m sure most thought they had until after Labour Day to have nomination meetings, but now they have to scramble at a time when many are still in vacation mode. In addition, some of the new ridings don’t yet have active EDAs, since they were not allowed to formally exist until after dissolution.

This is very much the situation in Grande Prairie-Mackenzie, which is a new riding under redistribution. One individual has stepped forward and declared their intention to seek the NDP nomination here, but I don’t know if a nomination meeting has been scheduled or if this is as yet public information, so I won’t divulge the name at this time.

I’m very grateful, Dave, for your kind words today, and also for the notes and comments of support I have received in the past few weeks from many people in St. Albert. It is true that I have seriously considered running for the NDP in the St. Albert-Edmonton riding. However, while one should never say never to any such endeavour, I don’t think a run now seems very likely. The information I have received is that the party has been looking over my past writing, and with a minimum of 8,500 bylined news and opinion articles published in several countries, many social media posts, two books of my own and a contribution to another, that is a formidable task. I did not feel I could start door-knocking while there was uncertainty about whether I would be considered an appropriate candidate. At this point, not having received an answer, I have reached the conclusion a successful campaign, for me, would be extremely difficult. I strongly support the NDP and I expect to be at the riding association nomination meeting on Saturday, Aug. 15, where I anticipate casting a ballot for one of the candidates seeking the nomination. I also want to state clearly that I strongly support the NDP’s efforts to find women, visible minorities and representatives from other traditionally underrepresented groups to seek nominations and run as candidates.

In other words, David Climenhaga knew he wouldn’t win in St. Albert-Edmonton and that it would be another loss on his political belt, much like when he ran for city council in St. Albert.

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