Tag: Alberta Election Candidate Nominations

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.

Republican Party connections to Alberta’s separation referendum

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date October 5, 2026

Alberta separation supporters at the Alberta Legislature on August 29, 2026 (photo: Dave Cournoyer)

Another bombshell story dropped by Carrie Tait and the Globe & Mail

Globe and Mail Alberta correspondent Carrie Tait has been on a roll, with her name sharing the bylines of some of the biggest breaking stories in Alberta politics in the last few years.

Along with her Globe and Mail colleagues Grant Robertson and Nathan Vanderklippe, Tait dropped a bombshell story this past weekend about Alberta separatists going to Washington D.C. to offer fresh water and oil in exchange for American financial support for an independent Alberta Republic and Republican operatives providing tactical assistance to separatist organizers in Alberta.

Read all about it on the Daveberta Substack

Alberta Politics

UCP nominate MLAs Turton and Long, Sarah Geisler running for NDP nomination in Strathcona-Sherwood Park

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date September 26, 2026

Searle Turton was nominated as the UCP candidate in Spruce Grove-Stony Plain. Turton was first elected as MLA of the riding west of Edmonton in 2019 and was re-elected in 2023 with 56 per cent of the vote.

Turton currently serves as Minister of Children and Family Services.

Read all about it on the Daveberta Substack

Tags Alberta Election Candidate Nominations, Alberta NDP, Martin Long, Nate Glubish, Sarah Geisler, Searle Turton, Spruce Grove-Stony Plain, Strathcona-Sherwood Park, United Conservative Party, West Yellowhead

Alberta Politics

Dan Williams wins UCP nomination in Peace River

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date September 12, 2026

Minister of Municipal Affairs Dan Williams speaks to reporters on April 2, 2026 (screenshot: Government of Alberta / YouTube)

UCP MLA and Minister of Municipal Affairs Dan Williams fended off a challenge from local contractor and separatist-backed candidate Dave Long to win his party’s nomination to run for re-election in Peace River.

Williams was first elected in 2019 and was re-elected in 2023 with 72.8 per cent of the vote.

Naheed Nenshi delivers NDP health care pitch days before Calgary-Shaw by-election

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date September 12, 2026

Calgary-Shaw NDP by-election candidate Kyle Campbell (centre) with NDP leader Naheed Nenshi (left) and Dr. Luanne Metz (right) announcing the party’s “Future of Health Care” policy (screenshot: Alberta NDP / YouTube)

NDP pitches stability and investment over the UCP’s restructuring and privatization

With only days left before the September 14th by-election in Calgary-Shaw, Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi joined candidate Kyle Campbell to deliver his party’s health care pitch to voters with a pledge of stability and investment in a public system that has undergone massive bureaucratic restructuring and increased privatization since 2023.

Nenshi pledged that within three years of forming government after the 2027 election, the NDP would shorten emergency department wait times, cut surgical, diagnostic, and specialist wait times by 30 per cent, make sure every Albertan has access to a family doctor or nurse practitioner, and, a big one, re-form one single Ministry of Health.

Nenshi said the NDP would also launch a judiciary-led public inquiry into CorruptCare, a wide-ranging government corruption scandal that largely faded into the background over the summer.

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.

UCP disqualifies Karen Peters from Grande Prairie-Wapiti nomination race, MLA Ron Wiebe expected to be acclaimed

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date August 19, 2026

Former UCP nomination candidate Karen Peters was disuqlified from the party’s candidate selection race in Grande Prairie-Wapiti (source: Vote Karen Peters / Facebook)

Karen Peters has been disqualifed from the United Conservative Party nomination contest in Grande Prairie-Wapiti, making first-term MLA Ron Wiebe widely expected to be acclaimed to run for re-election in the 2027 provincial election.

Peters was the UCP constituency president in the northwest Alberta riding and has posted on her personal Facebook page about chemtrails and vaccination conspiracy theories. These posts raised eyebrows among political watchers but neither issue is grounds for disqualification in the current UCP.

Alberta Politics

Calgary-Shaw by-election called for September 14, ahead of Alberta’s separation referendum

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date August 18, 2026

Sherwood Park NDP MLA Kyle Kasawski and Calgary-Shaw NDP candidate Kyle Campbell (source: Kyle Kasawski / Facebook)

Premier Danielle Smith has set Monday, September 14 as the date of the by-election vote in the Calgary-Shaw riding vacated by former UCP MLA Rebecca Schulz earlier this year.

The by-election will see UCP candidate Mike Derry face New Democrat Kyle Campbell, with Progressive Tory candidate Kyle Joseph trying to break into what has been a two-party race in Alberta politics, and Liberal Party leader John Roggeveen trying to get his party back on the radar.

Read all about it on the Daveberta Substack

Alberta Politics

Separatist organizer Kathy Flett running for UCP nomination in Sherwood Park

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date August 13, 2026

Just east of Edmonton, former MLA Jordan Walker, who served one term from 2019 to 2023, is facing a challenge from separatist organizer and former UCP constituency president Kathy Flett. Walker was unseated by NDP candidate Kyle Kasawski in 2023.

Flett is a spokeperson for the Alberta Women for Independence Network third party advertiser and has been a featured speaker at numerous pro-separation events across Alberta ahead of the October 19 referendum.

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.