With it becoming increasingly likely that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau could call a federal election in the next few months, the federal Conservative Party has been quietly nominating candidates in Alberta. The party holds all but one seat in Alberta and has nominated six of its incumbent Members of Parliament to seek re-election when the writs of election are drawn.
I have added the three most recent candidates to be nominated to the list of federal nomination candidates:
- Earl Dreeshen in Red Deer-Mountain View. Dreeshen has represented Red Deer in the House of Commons since 2008 and is the father of Devin Dreeshen, the United Conservative Party MLA for Innisfail-Sylvan Lake and Alberta’s Minister of Agriculture and Forestry.
- Michelle Rempel Garner in Calgary-Nose Hill. Rempel Garner has served as a Calgary MP since 2011.
- Damien Kurek in Battle River-Crowfoot. Kurek was first elected in 2019, succeeding longtime area MP Kevin Sorensen.
I am told that the Liberal Party opened its candidate nomination process in early November 2020 but no candidates have been officially nominated in Alberta as of today.
Jaro Giesbrecht has announced his plans to seek the Liberal Party nomination in Banff-Aidrie. Giesbrecht briefly sought the Liberal nomination ahead of the 2019 federal election but withdrew from the contest. He was the Liberal Party candidate in Calgary-Peigan in the 2019 provincial election.
I was thrilled to join the West of Centre Podcast this week with host Kathleen Petty and fellow guests Jen Gerson and Ryan Jespersen to discuss Alberta politics and the state of independent media in Alberta.
One reply on “Three more Conservative MPs nominated to run in next federal election”
Most parties rely on local riding associations to hold candidate nominations, and the federal Liberals’ riding associations are likely moribund in most federal seats. Federal Liberals are radioactive in this province, so I think all we can expect in the next election are “name on a ballot” candidates, not true campaigns.
Sadly, I don’t think it’ll be much different with the federal NDP, outside of one or two outliers, like Edmonton Strathcona (currently held by first-term NDP MP Heather McPherson). Provincial elections have become more competitive of late, but at the federal level, I still think the Cons have a lock on the province.