Tag: Alberta Election 2027

Rahim Jaffer is back, again, this time running for the UCP

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date October 6, 2026

Fresh from his run for Mayor of Edmonton in 2025, former MP Rahim Jaffer is running for the UCP nomination in Edmonton-North West. Jaffer, now a local restaurant owner, represented the Edmonton Strathcona federal riding from 1997 to 2008 and placed fifth with 4.3% of the vote in last year’s mayoral election.

I reached out to Jaffer’s campaign with some questions about why he is jumping into provincial politics but had not heard back at the time this newsletter was published.

Other candidates interested in the UCP nomination are Amit Batra, Iurie Boaghie, and Parker Royer. A nomination vote is scheduled for October 24, 2026.

Nolan Dyck defeats Robin Coward to win UCP nomination in Grande Prairie

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date September 8, 2026

UCP MLA Nolan Dyck (source: Nolan Dyck / Facebook)

First-term United Conservative Party MLA Nolan Dyck defeated local business owner and separation supporter Robin Coward in the party’s candidate nomination vote in the Grande Prairie riding. Dyck won with 524 votes to Coward’s 162 votes at the September 1, 2026 nomination meeting.

This marks the second big win by an incumbent UCP MLA over an openly separatist supporting candidate in a UCP nomination since the party opened the candidate selection process this summer. Former MLA Jordan Walker defeated separatist organizer and former Wexit Alberta interim leader Kathy Flett by 253 to 136 votes in Sherwood Park last month.

Tags Alberta Election 2027, Alberta Election Candidate Nominations, Alberta Separation Referendum, Alberta Separatism, Danielle Smith, Grande Prairie, Grande Prairie-Wapiti, Jordan Walker, Karen Peters, Kathy Flett, Nolan Dyck, Robin Coward, Ron Wiebe, Sherwood Park, United Conservative Party

Alberta Politics

The Peace Country a hotspot for UCP nomination challenges

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date September 1, 2026

The Peace Country has turned into a hotspot of UCP MLAs facing challenges in party nominations ahead of the next provincial election. MLA Nolan Dyck is facing a challenge from Robin Coward in Grande Prairie at a nomination meeting on September 1 and MLA Dan Williams is facing a challenge from Dave Long in Peace River at a vote of local members on September 10 and 11.

Grande Prairie-Wapiti MLA Ron Wiebe was spared a nomination challenge when the UCP disqualified challenger Karen Peters, but the party has not officially announced his acclamation.

UCP board director Irma Roberts enters Calgary-South East nomination contest

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date August 20, 2026

Lawyer Irma Roberts is the third candidate to enter the UCP nomination contest in Calgary-South East. Roberts has served as a regional director representing Calgary on the UCP’s provincial board of directors since 2023.

Roberts’ campaign is being run by right-wing political organizer Craig Chandler, who recently ran Mike Derry’s successful campaign for the UCP nomination in Calgary-Shaw. Chandler is also running Erin Averbukh’s UCP nomination campaign in Calgary-Acadia.

Alabi Adenekan and former Freedom Conservative Party chief of staff Stephen Burry are also running for the UCP nomination in this riding.

Alberta separatists duking it out for UCP candidate nominations in Grande Prairie and Sherwood Park

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date August 12, 2026

Premier Danielle Smith and MLAs Nolan Dyck and Ron Wiebe at the United Conservative Party’s 2024 leaders dinner fundraiser in Grande Prairie (source: Nolan Dyck / Facebook)

Two Grande Prairie MLAs and one former Edmonton-area MLA are facing nomination challenges as United Conservative Party members choose their candidates ahead of Alberta’s next provincial election.

Alberta Politics

UCP MLAs Rajan Sawhney and Jackie Armstrong Homeniuk face nomination challenges

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date July 25, 2026

It appears that at least two UCP MLAs will face challenges for their nominations ahead of the next provincial election:

Seun Ogunsola is challenging UCP MLA Rajan Sawhney in Calgary-North West.
- Sawhney was elected in this riding in 2023 after switching from Calgary-North East, where she was elected in 2019. She currently serves as Minister of Indigenous Relations.
- Ogunsola a senior partner with Crest Business Advisory and a former regional vice president with RBC Wealth Management. He resigned from the Alberta Law Foundation board after the government introduced legislation that allowed the Minister of Justice to interfere in the foundation’s granting process.
Former Vegreville town councillor Tina Warawa is challenging UCP MLA Jackie Armstrong Homeniuk in Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville.
- Armstrong Homeniuk has served as the UCP MLA for this riding east of Edmonton since 2019.
- Warawa is a former mayor and councillor of the Village of Andrew and served on Vegreville town council from 2017 to 2025. She is the former president of the Vegreville Minor Hockey Association.
- Warawa works as a constituency assistant for Lakeland Conservative MP Shannon Stubbs and previous worked in a similar role for Progressive Conservative MLA Jacquie Fenske from 2012 to 2015.

Weird fever dream? Sleepwalking? What is even happening in Alberta right now?

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date July 24, 2026

A screenshot from the Alberta separatist telethon. Mister Alberta is pictured in the Alberta-themed shirt and belaclava (second from the right)

Albertans need to get out and vote on October 19, 2026

Even after writing about Alberta politics for more than 20 years it’s still sometimes hard to fully understand and explain what is happening in our province.

Albertans are now 87 days away from having to vote on Premier Danielle Smith’s 10 referendum questions, including a convoluted question about holding a future binding referendum on Alberta separating from Canada. It feels like we’re having some kind of weird fever dream and we’re definitely sleepwalking into it.

Despite putting the future of Alberta’s place in Canada on the ballot in less than three months, I am shocked at how many people have told me Smith is barely or not even mentioning the separation referendum in many of the public speeches she is making during her summer travels across the province.

School trustee Angela Sommers running for NDP nomination in Red Deer-North

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date July 19, 2026

Public school trustee Angela Sommers is expected to be nominated as the NDP candidate in Red Deer-North at a July 30 nomination meeting. Sommers was first elected to the board of trustees of the Red Deer Public School Board in 2021.

The riding has been represented by UCP MLA Adriana LaGrange since 2019. LaGrange was re-elected in 2023 with 57.4 per cent of the vote. Her 2023 NDP opponent, Jaelene Tweedle, was elected to Red Deer City Council in 2025.

The NDP will nominate Michelle Baer in the neighbouring Red Deer-South riding on July 25. Baer is a former city lawyer who ran for the NDP the riding in 2023.

Nenshi will run in Calgary, Trisha Estabrooks expected to run for NDP nomination in Edmonton-Strathcona

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date July 16, 2026

Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi and Trisha Estabrooks at the NDP’s annual Art Walk event on Whyte Avenue in July 2026 (source: Trisha Estabrooks / Facebook)

It was expected and NDP leader Naheed Nenshi has just confirmed it. Nenshi will run in a Calgary riding when the next provincial election is called. The NDP leader and former Calgary mayor won a by-election in Edmonton-Strathcona in June 2025 to replace former MLA and premier Rachel Notley but he had yet to officially announce his plans for the next election.

In a statement published on social media today, Nenshi said:

Today, I’m letting you know of a decision I’ve made. While I’ve been thrilled every day to serve as your MLA, I will be seeking election in a Calgary riding in the next general election.

This will open up Edmonton-Strathcona for a new representative from this beautiful community. I am informing you today so that the incredible constituency association in this riding has time for a healthy and robust nomination process to select a candidate and a future MLA worthy of representing you. Interested candidates can express their interest now and more details on the nomination process and dates will be coming soon.

Former school trustee Trisha Estabrooks is expected to announced her plans to run for the NDP nomination in Edmonton-Strathcona at a July 17 press conference at Frank’s Community Pub. The riding has been held by the NDP since 1997 and from 1986 to 1993 before that.

Alberta Foundation for the Arts chair Cynthia Moore running for Calgary-Elbow UCP nomination

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date July 16, 2026

Premier Danielle Smith and Cynthia Moore in 2025 (source: Cynthia P. Moore / Facebook)

Former United Conservative Party president Cynthia Moore has launched her campaign for her party’s nomination in the Calgary-Elbow riding in the next provincial election.

Moore currently serves as chair of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, a role she was appointed to by the UCP government in 2024, and as chair of the Real Estate Council of Alberta. She previously worked as an executive of the Kahanoff Foundation.

Moore was UCP president from 2021 until 2023 — a tumultuous time in the governing party’s history that saw rank and file members revolt against Premier Jason Kenney’s leadership and rocket Danielle Smith into the Premier’s Office.

Alberta Politics

Former trustee Pamela Rath running for UCP nomination in Calgary-Beddington

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date July 2, 2026

Former Catholic school trustee and past UCP candidate Pamela Rath has launched her campaign for the UCP nomination in Calgary-Beddington.

The Calgary-Beddington riding is currently represented by NDP MLA Amanda Chapman, who defeated UCP MLA Josephine Pon by 543 votes in the 2023 provincial election.

Rath served as a trustee with the Calgary Catholic School District from 2017 until her resignation in December 2022 for “personal and family matters.” Her resignation came a few months after she was censured by her trustee colleagues after being found to be in violation of the board’s code of conduct, though the nature of the alleged misconduct was never made public.

It’s Kyle Campbell vs. Mike Derry in Calgary-Shaw by-election

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date July 2, 2026

Campbell will face United Conservative Party candidate Mike Derry, who surprised many political watchers last week when he defeated City Councillor Dan McLean in the party’s nomination vote.

With 507 total ballots cast in the UCP membership vote in Calgary-Shaw, Derry earned 286 votes to McLean’s 221 votes. Fifty-three per cent of party members in the riding turned out to vote at the nomination meeting.

Alberta NDP nominate Kyle Campbell as their candidate in Calgary-Shaw by-election

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date June 28, 2026

Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi and Calgary-Shaw NDP candidate Kyle Campbell in a campaign video released by the Alberta NDP (screenshot: Kyle Campbell / Facebook)

Campbell will face UCP’s Mike Derry in race to replace Rebecca Schulz

The Alberta NDP have nominated Kyle Campbell to run as the opposition party’s candidate in the upcoming Calgary-Shaw by-election to choose a new MLA following Rebecca Schulz’s resignation last month.

The by-election in this southwest Calgary riding will be an uphill battle for the NDP but, whenever it’s called in the next five months, it will take place during one of the most unpredictable periods in Alberta politics in recent memory.

There is no shortage of issues of the NDP to focus on in this by-election and it looks like health care and affordability will be top of mind for Campbell as he hits the doors.

Read all about it on the Daveberta Substack

Tags Acute Care Alberta, Alberta Election 2027, Alberta Election Candidate Nominations, Alberta Health Services, Alberta NDP, Alberta Separation Referendum, Alberta Separatism, Amanda Chapman, Brooks Arcand-Paul, Calgary-Acadia, Calgary-Beddington, Calgary-Bow, Calgary-Lougheed, Calgary-Mountain View, Calgary-Shaw, Calgary-Shaw by-election, Calgary-West, Camrose, Chestermere-Strathmore, Chris Kish, Craig Chandler, Dan McLean, Danielle Smith, Darrell Komick, Dodgy Contracts Scandal, Don Braid, Edmonton-Decore, Edmonton-West Henday, Erin Averbukh, Jason Stephan, Jeevan Mangat, Jeff Davison, Jeromy Farkas, Josephine Pon, Kyle Campbell, Leduc-Beaumont, Marie Renaud, Michelle Baer, Mike Derry, Mike Jamieson, Naheed Nenshi, Pamela Rath, Progressive Tory Party of Alberta, Rebecca Schulz, Red Deer-South, Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre, Sharif Haji, Sonya Sharp, St. Albert, United Conservative Party, Wildrose Independence Party

Alberta Politics

NDP nominates MLA David Eggen and David Shepherd for re-election

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date June 22, 2026

The longest serving MLA in the Alberta Legislature is hoping to extend his winning streak by another four years. NDP MLA David Eggen was selected to run for re-election in Edmonton-North West at a nomination meeting on June 16.

Eggen has represented that Edmonton riding since 2019 and previously represented Edmonton-Calder from 2004 to 2008 and 2012 to 2019. He was Minister of Education for the entire four years of the NDP’s time in government from 2015 to 2019 and currently services as chair of the NDP Opposition Caucus and Advanced Education critic.

The high level of churn in Alberta’s recent provincial elections has meant that not many MLAs make it to five-terms like Eggen has.

NDP MLA Amanda Chapman running for re-election in Calgary-Beddington

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date June 14, 2026

NDP MLA Amanda Chapman was nominated to run for re-election in Calgary-Beddington at a nomination meeting yesterday.

Chapman was first elected in 2023 after defeating UCP MLA Josephine Pon in a close race.

More NDP nominations are coming up soon:

June 16: MLA David Eggen will be nominated in Edmonton-North West and MLA David Shepherd will be nominated in Edmonton-City Centre.
June 24: Sarah Elmeligi will be nominated in Banff-Kananaskis.
June 25: MLA Marie Renaud will be nominated in St. Albert and Sharif Haji will be nominated in Edmonton-Decore.
June 26: Kyle Campbell will be nominated in Calgary-Shaw ahead of an expected by-election.
June 28: MLA Brooks Arcand-Paul will be nominated in Edmonton-West Henday.