Alberta Liberal leader Kevin Taft returned to Alberta yesterday and dispelled rumours that he will be resigning from his Edmonton-Riverview seat. The prospect of a by-election led former Edmonton-Riverview PC candidate Wendy Andrews to marshal of her supporters into a pre-by-election tizzy. In response, Taft told Andrews to take a Valium.
Since it was created in 1997, Edmonton-Riverview has elected two Liberal MLAs. In 1997, Linda Sloan defeated Tory Gwen Harris by over 900 votes. In 2001, Taft defeated City Councillor turned Tory candidate Wendy Kinsella by over 1,500 votes. In 2004, Taft garnered the largest margin of victory in that election after defeated Tory Fred Horne (now Edmonton-Rutherford’s MLA) by over 6,700 votes.
Calgary-Mountain View MLA David Swann is continuing to hold meetings to discuss the creation of a new political movement in Alberta. Notable attendees to the meetings include former Lacombe-Ponoka Green candidate Joe Anglin. After leading central Alberta landowners to a number of EUB hearings, Anglin received over 20% of the vote in Lacombe-Ponoka in the March 3, 2008 election. Gauntlet has some suggestions on how to start from scratch.
