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Alberta Politics

Adriana LaGrange wins UCP vote in Red Deer-North, NDP target Nate Glubish on rural broadband internet

Incumbent MLA Adriana LaGrange won the United Conservative Party nomination vote to run for re-election in Red Deer-North. LaGrange faced a nomination challenged from anti-vaccination activist Andrew Clews and according to a source in Red Deer, the vote was close.

LaGrange has been the face of the government’s controversial education system reforms, including the introduction of a new curriculum for kindergarten to grade 12 that many education experts say includes outdated and retrograde terms and ideas.

LaGrange was first elected to the Legislature in 2019 when she unseated NDP MLA Kim Schreiner in a 60.6 percent to 23.1 per cent vote. She previously served as a trustee on the Red Deer Catholic School board from 2007 and 2018 and was president of the Alberta Catholic School Trustees’ Association from 2015 to 2018.

Former city manager Craig Curtis and recent school board candidate Jaelene Tweedle are seeking the NDP nomination in Red Deer-North. The NDP have not announced a date for the meeting.

NDP candidates target Nate Glubish on rural broadband internet

Edmonton-Manning NDP MLA Heather Sweet joined Strathcona-Sherwood Park candidate Bill Tonita and Morinville-St. Albert candidate Karen Shaw at a press conference to criticize the UCP government for lack of progress on rural broadband internet expansion.

“Access to high-speed, affordable internet is essential for diversifying our economy and creating jobs, but the digital divide is growing under the UCP and hundreds of thousands of Albertans are at risk of being left behind,” said Tonita.

Strathcona-Sherwood Park is currently represented by UCP MLA and Service Alberta Minister Nate Glubish, who responded in a tweet saying “…Alberta’s Broadband Strategy is a fully-funded plan to eliminate the digital divide in 5 years. We are making sure we invest tax dollars wisely to achieve the best possible result for rural Alberta.”

Glubish recently made news when he switched his support in the UCP leadership race from Travis Toews to Danielle Smith.

Both Strathcona-Sherwood Park and Morinville-St. Albert are ridings the NDP believes they have a chance of picking up in the next election.

Other nomination updates:

Upcoming nomination meetings

  • September 7 – Calgary-North West NDP
  • September 10 – Edmonton-Ellerslie NDP
  • September 11 – Lethbridge-West NDP
  • September 14 – Edmonton-Beverly-Clareview NDP
  • September 15 – Calgary-Mountain View NDP
  • September 17 – Edmonton-Gold Bar NDP

I am tracking candidates and building a list of people running for nominations to run in Alberta’s next provincial election. If you know of someone running, please post a comment below or email me at david.cournoyer@gmail.com. Thank you!

(I am launching a Substack. Sign up at  Daveberta Substack)

2 replies on “Adriana LaGrange wins UCP vote in Red Deer-North, NDP target Nate Glubish on rural broadband internet”

They talk a good game on economic development, but the UCP really hasn’t benefited rural Alberta.

Maybe they hope rural voters will not notice, or remember, how the UCP let oil and gas companies off the hook for their municipal taxes and how they decimated rural health care even more than in the cities. Rural health facilities being periodically closed seems to be becoming routine these days.

Even municipal politicians are very openly skeptical of the UCP’s promises to better fund policing if the province takes it over.

The UCP better hope that rural Albertans don’t realize any time soon that they have been no better for them than for the rest of the province.

Sadly, there appears to be no force on Earth that will divert most rural* Alberta voters from their slavish devotion to conservatives of either UCP or CPC persuasion. There’s a deep, palpable, irrational hate out here for both Justin Trudeau & Rachel Notley, as evidenced most recently by the hate-filled abusive & threatening rant & verbal assault this past week on Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland at Grande Prairie City Hall.

You can’t drive anywhere in this city of almost 70,000 without seeing at least one vehicle festooned with “F*ck Trudeau” or “F*Notley” flags, bumper stickers or window decals. I’m sure it’s no different in any of Alberta’s small cities or towns. The next provincial election will be fought almost exclusively in Calgary: rural* Alberta is a dead zone for anyone not a conservative, and Edmonton is a virtual lock for the NDP.

*rural — here I use “rural” in the sense of “neither Calgary nor Edmonton”. While the small cities outside the two major metropolitan areas — Red Deer, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Grande Prairie, and the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo (Fort McMurray & environs) — are truly cities, with urban problems like homelessness, the opioid crisis and transit issues — with a few rare exceptions they tend to vote provincially & federally along rural lines.

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