Nagwan Al-Guneid defeated Jennifer Burgess to win the Alberta NDP nomination in Calgary-Glenmore.
A respected expert in sustainable energy development, Al-Guneid was endorsed by a number of high-profile Calgary politicos from the NDP, Liberal Party, Alberta Party and former Progressive Conservative Party.
“Our path to victory as a province, and as a community, depends on our ability to grow and support one another right here at home,” said Al-Guneid in a statement following her nomination win.
“As an economic driver, Calgary is an important player on the world energy stage, and I can see amazing opportunities for my community through the proposals Alberta’s NDP have been putting forward to diversify our economy and strengthen our energy diversity,” she said.
Al-Guneid is director of Business Renewables Centre Canada and previously worked for Energy Futures Lab and Total Energies. She was President and Board Chair of Calgary’s Ask Her from 2016 to 2020.
The riding is currently represented by United Conservative Party MLA Whitney Issik, who is Associate Minister of Status of Women.
Issik was first elected in 2019 and was a longtime PC Party volunteer, serving as campaign manager for Jim Prentice during his brief run for the federal PC Party nomination in Calgary-Southwest in 2002 and as policy co-chair of the federal PC Party during the 2000 federal election.
County Councillor Isaac Skuban challenging UCP MLA Glenn van Dijken
Westlock County Councillor Isaac Skuban plans to challenge two-term MLA Glenn van Dijken for the United Conservative Party nomination in the Athabasca-Barrhead-Westlock riding.
“What pushed me to run is seeing the conservative movement slowly decrease in the polls and seeing the internal struggle happen within the party,” Skuban, 24, told Town and Country Today. “I know I can speak up and be effective.”
“I just think what’s happening in the party right now wouldn’t have happened if we had different people in the mix. I think we’re going to see a lot of nominations challenged across the province.” [editor’s note: all 21 UCP MLAs who have been nominated so far have been acclaimed]
Skuban was first elected to the County Council in September 2019 and is studying political science and economics at the University of Alberta. He has sat on the board of the local UCP constituency association.
The sprawling rural riding located north of Edmonton has been represented by Van Dijon since it was created in the 2019 election. It previously included parts of van Dijken’s former Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock riding and the former Athabasca-Sturgeon-Redwater riding, which was represented by NDP MLA Colin Piquette from 2015 to 2019.
Roger Reid confident he can fend off Danielle Smith
UCP MLA Roger Reid says he’s confident he can beat former Wildrose Party leader Danielle Smith for the party’s nomination in Livingstone-Macleod.
“Danielle is certainly a formidable challenger, but I’ve enjoyed the opportunity despite all the challenges throughout the province in the last three years,” Reid told the Nanton News.
Smith represented the neighboring Highwood riding from 2012 to 2015 and some of that riding, including her hometown of High River, are now part of Livingstone-Macleod. She has declared plans to run for the UCP leadership if Premier Jason Kenney loses his leadership review.
Upcoming nomination meetings
- Calgary-Bow NDP: May 12, 2022
- Edmonton-North West NDP: May 18, 2022
- Calgary-Acadia NDP: May 26, 2022
- Edmonton-Meadows NDP: May 28, 2022
- Edmonton-Rutherford NDP: May 28, 2022
- Brooks-Medicine Hat AP: May 25, 2022
- Calgary-Elbow AP: May 29, 2022
- Airdrie-Cochrane NDP: May 30, 2022
- Edmonton-Riverview NDP: June 7, 2022
- Edmonton-McClung NDP: June 8, 2022
- Strathcona-Sherwood Park NDP: June 9, 2022
- Edmonton-South West NDP: June 18, 2022
- Edmonton-Decore NDP: June 25, 2022
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!
(And, once again, feel free to sign up for the Daveberta Substack.)
2 replies on “Nagwan Al-Guneid wins Calgary-Glenmore NDP race, Isaac Skuban challenging Glenn van Dijken in Athabasca-Barrhead-Westlock”
If likes and retweets from NDP activists I follow on Twitter are anything to go by, it is not surprising that Nagwan won. Congratulations.
As someone who originally came from the area, it is interesting to see Mr. van Dijken has a challenger. Like some other parts of rural Alberta, health care in the area is in quite a bit of turmoil here lately, which must be at least somewhat unsettling to all the seniors in the area.
So for the current MLA, as Ricky once said to Lucy, you got some splainin to do.