As the first day of Alberta’s provincial election winds down, I have a few quick candidate nomination updates to share.
Barnes not running
He waited until almost the very last minute, but Independent MLA Drew Barnes announced through a video posted on social media that he will not seek re-election for a fourth term as the MLA for Cypress-Medicine Hat.
Barnes was first elected in 2012 as a Wildrose Party MLA and was re-elected under the Wildrose banner in 2015. He won a third-term in 2019 as a United Conservative Party candidate but was removed from the UCP Caucus in 2021 after two years of being a general thorn in then-premier Jason Kenney‘s side.
Party on the right
The Wildrose Loyalty Coalition (not to be confused with the Wildrose Independence Party) is now an official registered political party recognized by Elections Alberta.
The new party is led by former Wildrose Independence and Wildrose Alliance Party leader Paul Hinman, who was pushed out of his role as leader of the WIP last year. Two-time Wildrose Party candidate and UCP nominee aspirant Danny Hozack is the party president.
And there is always room for one-more fringe party on the political right in Alberta.
Pastor Artur Pawlowski, known for his 11-minute phone call with Premier Danielle Smith and his ousting as leader of the Independence Party of Alberta, was joined by former Conservative Member of Parliament Rob Anders (who is still listed as a board member of the Wildrose Independence Party) to announce they are forming another new political party – The Solidarity Movement of Alberta.
Meanwhile, the Pro-Life Alberta Political Association (formerly known as the Social Credit Party) has nominated Lucas Hernandez as their candidate in Calgary-Mountain View. Hernandez carried the party banner in Calgary-Currie in 2019, where he earned 60 votes.
The CBC’s Jason Markusoff recently wrote an analysis of the Alberta Pro-Life Political Association, a political party that acts like a political action committee.
The Independents
There are also a handful of people who have registered as candidates with no party affiliation who will run as Independents.
They include Andrew Lineker in Edmonton-McClung, Graham Lettner in Edmonton-Gold Bar, Jody Balanko in Strathcona-Sherwood Park, and Matthew Powell in Vermilion-Lloydminster-Wainwright.
Powell sought the Freedom Conservative Party nomination in the riding in 2019 (FCP joined with Wexit Alberta to become the Wildrose Independence Party in 2021).
Total Nominated candidates
Here are the total nominated candidates running in Alberta’s provincial election:
- United Conservative Party: 87/87
- New Democratic Party 87/87
- Green Party: 31/87
- Alberta Party: 18/87
- Liberal Party: 12/87
- Independence Party of Alberta: 7/87
- Advantage Party of Alberta: 3/87
- Communist Party: 3/87
- Wildrose Independence Party: 2/87
- Buffalo Party 1/87
- Pro-Life Political Association: 1/87
- Wildrose Loyalty Coalition 1/87
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I am planning to share most of my writing for the upcoming Alberta election on Substack, so don’t miss out!
3 replies on “Independent MLA Drew Barnes not running for re-election, two new right-wing parties announced”
Hey Dave, that Independent you listed for Strathcona-Sherwood Park, you actually listed under Edmonton-Strathcona on the Alberta Election 2023 page.
I was a bit surprised Barnes decided not to run again. He seemed to be someone who might be comfortable with a lot of what Smith was saying or might be able to win regardless.
However, unlike others in his former party, I think he might also be politically smart enough to see a disaster unfolding and want to be as far away from it as possible.
Perhaps like some others on the right, he also has trust issues with Smith, who seems to say what they want to hear, but her positions sometimes change or are inconsistent.
Fred Schwieger is running as an Independent for Rimbey/Rocky Mountain House/Sundre. He left The Independence Party to run as an Independent. It would be helpful to distinguish between running as an Independent, and running with The Independence Party.