Rod Loyola secures NDP nomination in Edmonton-Ellerslie, Mark Smith beats challenger Boitchenko for UCP nomination in Drayton Valley-Devon

Photo: Rod Loyola nominated as the NDP candidate in Edmonton-Ellerslie. (Source: @JanisIrwin on twitter)

New Democratic Party MLA Rod Loyola secured his party’s nomination in Edmonton-Ellerslie on August 28, 2018. Loyola was first elected in 2015, earned 61.5 percent of the vote in this suburban southeast Edmonton district. Loyola currently serves as the chair of the Standing Committee on Resource Stewardship. Before to his election in 2015, Loyola was the president of the University of Alberta Non-Academic Staff Association.

In Drayton Valley-Devon, MLA Mark Smith defeated challenger Andrew Boitchenko in a vote held for the United Conservative Party nomination on August 29, 2018. Smith was first elected in 2015, earning 37 percent of the vote and unseating Progressive Conservative cabinet minister and former Drayton Valley mayor Diana McQueen, who earned 30 percent of the vote.

Nasty UPC nomination race allegedly gets physical

Long-time Calgary Conservative Member of Parliament Deepak Obhrai inserted himself into a contentious UCP nomination race this week. Obhrai held a press conference in his Calgary-Forest Lawn constituency office with local radio and TV host Kumar Sharma, who alleges he was threatened and then physically assaulted by a gang of men after publishing a Facebook post that referenced UCP nomination candidate Happy Mann.

Mann is a two-time Wildrose Party candidate who is now seeking the UCP nomination in the new Calgary-Falconridge district in northeast Calgary. In a statement sent to various media companies, Mann denied any connection to the alleged incident and maintained that the accusations were politically motivated.

Also seeking the UCP nomination in Calgary-Falconridge are realtor Pete de Jong, former Chesteremere city councillor Christopher Steeves, and past Wildrose Party candidate Devinder Toor. Deepak Sharma has been nominated as the Liberal Party candidate in this district.

Here are some more of the latest updates to the growing list of Alberta election nomination candidates:

Calgary-Foothills – Jennifer Wyness has been nominated as the Alberta Party candidate in this northwest Calgary district. Wyness placed second in the Ward 2 contest in Calgary’s 2017 municipal election, finishing with 36 percent to incumbent councillor Joe Magliocca‘s 49 percent. 

Calgary-Lougheed – Mount Royal University policy studies student Rachel Timmermans is seeking the Alberta Party nomination in this southeast Calgary district. If nominatied, Timmermans will face UCP leader Jason Kenney in the 2019 election.

Calgary-Mountain View – Becca Polak is seeking the UCP nomination in this district. Polak is the former Vice-President of Communications for the Wildrose Party and served as a member of the UCP interim board from 2017 to 2018.  

Calgary-North – Manpreet Sidhu is the sixth candidate to join the UCP nomination in this new north Calgary district.

Edmonton-Gold Bar – NDP MLA Marlin Schmidt is expected to be confirmed as his party’s candidate at a nomination meeting on September 20, 2018. Schmidt currently serves as Minister of Advanced Education. Schmidt was elected in 2015 with 68.9 percent of the vote and his crushing 11,205 vote margin of victory, the largest in any district in that election, earned him the nickname “Hurricane Marlin.”

Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood – Brian Gratrix seeking the Alberta Party nomination. Also running for the Alberta Party nomination in this district is past city council candidate Tish Prouse.

Edmonton-Manning – Harinder Grewal is the latest candidate to join the UCP nomination contest in this district.

Livingstone-Macleod – Dylin Hauser has been nominated as the Liberal Party candidate, Tim Meech has been nominated as the Alberta Party candidate, and Thomas Schneider has joined the UCP nomination contest. Schnieder is a former Area Sales Representative with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

If you know any candidates who have announced their intentions to stand for party nominations, please send me an email at david.cournoyer@gmail.com. I will add them to the list. Thank you!