It was Alberta Week in Canada’s federal election campaign
It was Alberta Week in the federal election campaign with the two party leaders who grew up in the western province returning to wave their party flags and rally supporters.
Tag: Calgary-Confederation
Liberals drop former NDP MLA Rod Loyola in Edmonton Gateway
Canada’s federal election is in full-swing and today’s Daveberta newsletter includes a quick update about candidate nominations in Alberta. I will be back early next week with a regular column and more analysis from Alberta in the federal election.
As of this morning, the Conservative Party, the New Democratic Party, and the Green Party are the only parties with candidates in all 37 ridings in Alberta. The Liberal Party briefly had a full slate but are down one after their candidate in Edmonton Gateway was removed yesterday (more about that below).
The deadline for parties to nominate candidates or for Independent candidates to put their names forward is Monday, April 7 at 2:00 p.m.
UCP MLA writes that Canada is broken and Team Canada is a “fake team”
Mark Carney has only been Prime Minister of Canada for 17 days but last week he may have made one of the most consequential statements by a Canadian political leader in recent memory.
“The old relationship we had with the United States based on deepening integration of our economies and tight security and military cooperation is over,” Carney said in response to American President Donald Trump’s almost daily threats against Canada.
Trump backed down on his threats last week to level 25 percent tariffs against the Canadian automobile manufacturing industry, probably temporarily, after Carney announced retaliatory tariffs, but this week could feature Trump’s next big intervention in a federal election campaign where he has become the biggest villain. April 2 is what the Trump is calling “Liberation Day.” It’s the day he says he plans to level more huge tariffs on products being imported into the US.
Read the rest on the Daveberta Substack
When Alberta Premier Danielle Smith demanded Carney call a federal election after he was sworn-in as Prime Minister ten days ago, she probably didn’t expect that a two week old interview with an American alt-right news website would be making headlines on the first day of the campaign.
In a March 8 interview with the pro-Trump Breitbart website, Smith said she asked the Trump administration to pause their economic attacks on Canada until after the federal election because they might hurt Pierre Poilievre’s chances of defeating the Liberals.
Read it all on the Daveberta Substack
With the end of summer fast approaching and the Labour Day long-weekend just days away, I’ve opened up the mailbag to answer a few Alberta politics questions about health care privatization, early election speculation, and small nuclear reactors sent in by Daveberta subscribers. Read it all on the Daveberta Substack.
Alberta’s Progressive Future calls for Alberta NDP to distance itself from the Ottawa NDP
When I worked for the Alberta Liberal Party back in the 2000s, we had an inside joke that the Liberals could run Jesus Christ as a candidate in Wainwright and still lose. It was funny because it was probably true (the last time voters in Wainwright elected a Liberal MLA was in 1909) and was a reflection of how cynical we were that the party had any chance of actually winning any seats in rural Alberta.
I imagine more than a few Alberta NDP supporters felt the same when the results of the 2023 election started rolling in on May 29, 2023. Despite making big gains in Calgary and winning 38 seats province-wide, the party’s hopes of forming government were dashed at the city limits.
Read the rest on the Daveberta Substack.
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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is visiting Governor General Mary Simon this morning to ask the House of Commons to be dissolved and election to be called. About 3,000 kilometres west of the national capital, the Liberal Party is still scrambling to nominate candidates to run in the impending federal election.
The Liberals have nominated 20 candidates in Alberta’s 34 electoral districts, including two new candidates yesterday:
- John Turvey is the Liberal Party candidate in Lakeland. Turvey is an instructor at Lakeland College.
- Paula Shimp is the Liberal Party candidate in Foothills. Shimp was the Alberta Liberal candidate in Cardston-Taber-Warner in the 2004 provincial election.
The NDP are also behind in nominating candidates in Alberta, with 13 candidates nominated across the province. The latest being Grumit Bhachu in Calgary-Midnapore. Bhachu was the NDP candidate in this district in the 2019 federal election.
The Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) has nominated candidates Kevan Hunter in Calgary-Confederation, Merryn Edwards in Edmonton-Centre, Mary Joyce in Edmonton-Griesbach, Andre Vachon in Edmonton-Manning, and Peggy Morton in Edmonton-West.
Eden Gould is running in Calgary-Centre for the Animal Protection Party of Canada.
For more, see the full list of federal election candidates in Alberta.
The countdown to Canada’s next federal election is on as cabinet ministers and party leaders drop into Alberta to raise their banners and support their local candidates.
Infrastructure and Communities Minister Catherine McKenna joined Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson to announce federal funding for southern extension of the Capital Line LRT.
Transport Minister Omar Alghabra was touring through Calgary and made time to attend a rally in support of Calgary-Centre Liberal candidate Sabrina Grover and Calgary-Skyview candidate George Chahal.
NDP leader Jagmeet Singh was spotted in the provincial capital campaigning with Edmonton-Strathcona MP Heather McPherson, Edmonton-Griesbach candidate Blake Desjarlais and Edmonton-Centre candidate Heather MacKenzie.
People’s Party leader Maxime Bernier was in Medicine Hat, where he was campaigning with local candidates and meeting with ousted UCP MLA Drew Barnes.
And candidate nominations continue ahead of the expected election call. Here are some of the latest federal candidate nominations from across Alberta:
- Ron Thiering has been nominated as the Liberal Party candidate in Edmonton-Wetaskiwin. Thiering was the party’s 2019 candidate in the neighbouring Sherwood Park-Fort Saskatchewan and recently lost a contested nomination in that district to Tanya Holm.
- Juan Estevez is expected to be nominated as the NDP candidate in Calgary-Centre on August 5.
- Sandra Hunter is expected to be nominated as the NDP candidate in Edmonton-West on August 5.
- Desiree Bissonnettte is seeking the NDP nomination in Lakeland and is expected to be nominated on August 5.
- Gulshan Akter is seeking the NDP nomination in Calgary-Confederation. A nomination meeting is scheduled for August 11. Akter is the managing director of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Education and President and CEO of the Peerless Training Institute, a government-accredited private career college in Calgary. She was the NDP candidate in Calgary-West in the 2019 provincial election, where she placed second with 25.4 per cent of the vote behind United Conservative Party MLA Mike Ellis.
- Carey Rutherford is the Green Party candidate in Calgary-Forest Lawn.
- Melanie Hoffman is the Green Party candidate in Edmonton-Riverbend.
I am building a list of candidates seeking party nominations to run as candidates in Alberta in the next federal election. If you have any additions to the list, please comment below or email me at david.cournoyer@gmail.com. Thank you.
With an election call expected in the coming weeks or months, the Liberal Party of Canada continues to nominate candidates in Alberta.
Randy Boissonnault has been acclaimed as the Liberal Party candidate in Edmonton-Centre. Boissonnault represented the central Edmonton district in Ottawa from 2015 to 2019.
Following weeks of rumours that he was being pressured by Prime Minster Justin Trudeau to run, Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson declined the chance to run as the Liberal Party candidate in Edmonton-Centre, clearing the way for Boissonnault’s nomination.
The Liberals have also recently nominated the following candidates:
- Getahun Shawile in Bow River.
- Habiba Mohamud in Edmonton-Griesbach. Mohamud was the party’s candidate in the 2019 election, where she placed third with 17.2 per cent of the vote.
- Tariq Chaudary in Edmonton-Riverbend. Chaudary was the party’s candidate in the 2015 and 2019 election. In 2019, he placed second with 22.9 per cent of the vote.
- Adam Brown in Edmonton-West
- Greg Springate in St. Albert-Edmonton. Springate was the party’s candidate in the 2019 election, where he placed second with 19.1 per cent of the vote.
The Conservative Party has not released any official statement but it appears as though Tunde Obasan has been acclaimed as the party’s candidate in Edmonton-Strathcona following Rick Peterson’s disqualification earlier this month.
Obasan defeated City Councillor Mike Nickel to win the United Conservative Party nomination in Edmonton-South in 2018. He was later defeated by NDP MLA Thomas Dang in the 2019 election.
The Green Party has nominated Natalie Odd in Calgary-Confederation and Evelyn Tanaka in Calgary-Shepard.
Odd is the Executive Director of the Alberta Environmental Network, one of the groups that spearheaded the incredibly successful “Defend Alberta Parks” campaign against the UCP government’s plans to close or privatize more than 170 provincial parks. This is her third time running as the Green Party candidate in this district.
The right-wing People’s Party has nominated Bailey Bedard in Calgary-Heritage, Thomas Matty in Edmonton-Centre and Paul McCormack in Edmonton-Mill Woods. And the separatist Maverick Party has chosen Matt Magolan in Calgary-Midnapore.
Dr. Sunil Sookram running for Senate
A fourth candidate has put their name forward to run in Alberta’s Senate Nominee election, which will take place on the same day as the province’s municipal elections on October 18, 2021.
University of Alberta Hospital emergency medicine physician and former AHS EMS Medical Director Dr. Sunil Sookram has filed his papers to run as an Independent candidate.
Already running are Progress Alberta executive Director Duncan Kinney, lobbyist and former UCP President Erika Barootes, and conservative activist Pamela Davidson.
I am building a list of candidates seeking party nominations to run as candidates in Alberta in the next federal election. If you have any additions to the list, please email me at david.cournoyer@gmail.com. Thank you.
Calgary City Councillor George Chahal announced this week that he is withdrawing his bid for re-election in the October municipal elections in order to run as the federal Liberal Party candidate in Calgary-Skyview. Chahal, who was first elected to city council in 2017, will face Conservative Party Member of Parliament Jag Sahota, New Democratic Party candidate Gurinder Singh Gill, and People’s Party candidate Harry Dhillon.
The northeast Calgary district was represented by Liberal MP Darshan Kang from 2015 until he left the Liberal caucus in 2017 following allegations of sexual harassment. The former two-term Liberal MLA sat as an Independent until his term was complete and did not seek re-election in 2019.
Rick Peterson out of Conservative race in Edmonton-Strathcona
It appears as though former Conservative Party leadership candidate Rick Peterson is no longer seeking his party’s nomination in Edmonton-Strathcona. While neither Peterson nor the party have made any official public statement, Conservative Party sources say that he was disqualified from the race by the central party.
It now appears likely that his opponent, Tunde Obsan, the only other candidate in the race, will be acclaimed as the Conservative Party candidate in Edmonton-Strathcona. Obasan was the 2019 United Conservative Party candidate in Edmonton-South and is an audit manager with the provincial Department of Alberta Treasury Board and Finance.
Edmonton-Strathcona is currently represented by NDP MP Heather McPherson.
Don Iveson running in Edmonton-Centre?
Rumours continue to circulate that Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson could seek the federal Liberal nomination in Edmonton-Centre. Rumours about Iveson jumping into federal politics have been around for years, but his decision to not seek re-election as mayor and the proximity to an impending federal election has given new fuel to the speculation.
Iveson was first elected to City Council in 2007 and has served as Mayor since 2013. He is currently the chairperson of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Big City Mayors’ Caucus.
Former Liberal MP Randy Boissonnault, who represented the district from 2015 to 2019, has already announced his intentions to seek his party’s nomination.
Other nominations
The NDP have nominated Shawn Gray in Edmonton Riverbend.
Austin Mullins is now running for the Green Party nomination in Calgary-Centre. Mills had previously announced his intentions to seek the party’s nomination in Banff-Airdire, where he ran in 2019.
The right-wing People’s Party have nominated Dennis Trepanier in Battle River-Crowfoot, Edward Gao in Calgary-Confederation, Jonathan Hagel in Calgary-Midnapore, Kyle Scott in Calgary-Nose Hill, Michael Knoll in Calgary-Shepard, Brent Kinzel in Edmonton-West, Brigitte Yolande Maria Cecelia in St. Albert-Edmonton, and Murray MacKinnon in Sturgeon River-Parkland.
The party has also nominated two time Wildrose Party candidate Darryl Boisson in Peace River-Westlock and is expected to nominate Ben Whyte in Calgary-Rocky Ridge at a meeting on July 29.
The separatist Maverick Party has nominated Orrin Bliss in Bow River, Annelise Freeman in Calgary-Heritage, Josh Wylie in Foothills, and Physical Education and Social Studies teacher Todd Muir in Yellowhead.
I am building a list of candidates seeking party nominations to run as candidates in Alberta in the next federal election. If you have any additions to the list, please email me at david.cournoyer@gmail.com. Thank you.
A notice on the Liberal Party of Canada website today noted that Murray Sigler has been acclaimed as the party’s candidate in Calgary-Confederation. Sigler is a well-known name in corporate Calgary, with a career stringing back to his days as a senior vice-president of Pacific Western Airlines and President of Canadian Airlines.
Most recently he completed a year as the interim CEO of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, a role he filled on a permanent basis from 2002 to 2005 before his appointment as managing Director of the Alberta Government’s trade office in London, UK.
He worked as CEO of Sport Calgary from 2013 to 2019.
Sigler currently serves on the board of directors of the Calgary Airport Authority and the exclusive private Glencoe Club.
He led the Conservative caucus in the 1967 Calgary Model Parliament and donated $500 to the Alberta Party in 2017. He endorsed Alberta Party MLA Greg Clark in his bid for re-election in Calgary-Elbow in 2019.
Past provincial Liberal candidate David Gamble had previously announced his plans to seek the nomination.
Calgary-Confederation is currently represented by Conservative Member of Parliament Len Webber, who has been nominated by his party to run in the next election.
Webber was first elected to the House of Commons in 2015 with a narrow margin, finishing 1,586 voted ahead of Liberal Matt Grant, but was re-elected with a much wider margin 21,404 votes ahead of Liberal Jordan Stein in 2019.
Webber previously served as the Progressive Conservative MLA for Calgary-Foothills from 2004 until 2014, when he sat as an Independent. His father, Neil Webber, served as the PC MLA for Calgary-Bow from 1975 to 1989 and founded the Webber Academy private school in 1997.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is widely expected to be preparing to call an election this summer. Trudeau will be visiting Calgary tomorrow.
The non-Conservative parties are slowly starting the process of nominating candidates in Alberta ahead of the next federal election.
Blake Desjarlais is seeking the New Democratic Party nomination in Edmonton-Griesbach. Desjarlais is the Director of Public Affairs & National Operations for the Métis Settlements General Council and was the co-chairperson of the Alberta government’s Indigenous Climate Leadership Summits in 2017 and 2018. The nomination meeting is scheduled for March 18.
David Gamble is seeking the Liberal Party nomination in Calgary-Confederation. Gamble was the provincial Liberal candidate in Calgary-Klein in the 2015 election and previously served as Executive Vice-President of the Alberta Liberal Party.
Government audit manager Tunde Obasan is challenging former federal Conservative leadership candidate Rick Petersen for the Conservative nomination in Edmonton-Strathcona. Obsan was the United Conservative Party candidate in Edmonton-South in the 2019 election where he was defeated by NDP MLA Thomas Dang.
The Conservatives are continuing to acclaim their incumbents in Alberta. As of today, I am not aware of any Conservative MPs in Alberta being challenged for their party nomination ahead of the next election.
Here is the list of the most recently acclaimed Conservatives in Alberta:
- Calgary-Confederation – Len Webber has served as the Conservative MP for this district since 2015. He previously served as the Progressive Conservative and Independent MLA for Calgary-Foothills from 2004 to 2014.
- Calgary-Skyview – Jag Sahota has served as the MP for this district since 2019. She was the PC candidate in Calgary-McCall in the 2015 provincial election.
- Grande Prairie-Mackenzie – Chris Warkentin has served as an MP in northwest Alberta since 2006.
- Fort McMurray-Cold Lake – David Yurdiga has served as an MP since 2014.
- Edmonton-Mill Woods – Tim Uppal was first elected as MP for Edmonton-Mill Woods since 2019 and previously served as MP for Edmonton-Sherwood Park from 2008 to 2015.
- Edmonton-West – Kelly McCauley has served as MP for this district since 2015.
- Edmonton-Wetaskiwin – Mike Lake has served as MP for Edmonton-Wetaskiwin from 2006 to 2015 and MP for Edmonton-Wetaskiwin since 2015.
- Medicine Hat — Cardston — Warner – Glen Motz has served as MP for this district since 2016.
See a full list of candidates who have announced their plans to run for federal party nominations in Alberta.
Photo: Elizabeth May with Green Party candidates in Calgary and southern Alberta on September 20, 2019 (photo from @EvTanaka on Twitter)
We are now 11 days into Canada’s federal election and almost all the main political parties have filled or are close to filling an entire slate of candidates in Alberta’s 34 electoral districts. By my count, the Conservative Party and People’s Party now have candidates in every Alberta riding, the New Democratic Party and Green Party have nominated candidates in 33 ridings while the governing Liberal Party still only has candidates named in 25 ridings in Alberta.
Candidates have until October 2, 2019 to submit their names to Elections Canada in order to appear on the ballot on October 21, 2019.
Here are the latest updates to the list of candidates nominated and running in the federal election in Alberta:
Banff-Airdrie: Anne Wilson is the New Democratic Party candidate. Wilson ran as a provincial NDP candidate in 2008 in Banff-Cochrane and 2015 in Calgary-Foothills (against Progressive Conservative leader Jim Prentice). In July 2015 she ran for the NDP nomination for the Calgary-Foothills by-election but was defeated by former alderman Bob Hawkesworth. Until recently she was first vice-president of the Alberta NDP.
Battle River-Crowfoot: Natasha Fryzuk is the NDP candidate. Fryzuk is the communications coordinator for the Quarters Arts Society in Edmonton.
Bow River: Lynn MacWilliam has been acclaimed as the NDP candidate. MacWilliam serves on Bassano Town Council and ran for the provincial NDP in Strathmore-Brooks in 2015, for the federal NDP in Bow River in 2015, and again provincially in Brooks-Medicine Hat in 2019, earning 18 per cent of the vote. She previously worked in Ottawa for former Burnaby-Douglas MP Bill Siksay.
Calgary-Centre: Jessica Buresi has been nominated as the NDP candidate.
Calgary-Confederation: Gurcharan Sidhu has been nominated as the NDP candidate.
Calgary-Forest Lawn: Brent Nichols is registered as an Independent candidate.
Calgary-Midnapore: Taylor Stasila is the Green Party candidate. Stasila was the Green Party candidate in Calgary-Fish Creek in the 2019 provincial election.
Calgary-Rocky Ridge: Nathan Fortin is the NDP candidate. Fortin is an activist with UFCW 401 in Calgary. Shaoli Wang is an Independent candidate in this riding.
Calgary-Shepard: David Smith is the NDP candidate. Smith is a Workers Advocate with UFCW 401 in Calgary.
Calgary-Signal Hill: Khalis Ahmed is the NDP candidate. Ahmed was the NDP candidate in the 2017 by-election in Calgary-Heritage, and in Calgary-Signal Hill in 2015. Marco Reid is the Green Party candidate. Reid is president of the provincial Green Party and was briefly a candidate in the 2018 Innisfail-Sylvan Lake by-election before dropping out and endorsing the Liberal Party candidate. He ran for the leadership of the provincial Greens in 2017.
Calgary-Skyview: Signe Knutson is the Green Party candidate. Knutson was the Green Party of Manitoba candidate in St. Boniface in the 2016 Manitoba election.
Edmonton-Griesbach: Safi Khan has been nominated as the Green Party candidate.
Edmonton-Manning: Vancouver-based real estate associate Laura-Leah Shaw appears to have replaced Chris Vallee as the the Green Party candidate. Shaw was the Green Party candidate in Steveston-Richmond East in the 2015 federal election.
Edmonton-West: Jackie Pearce has replaced Jeff Culihull as the Green Party candidate in this riding.
Foothills: Calgary-based writer and director Mickail Hendi is the NDP candidate.
Fort McMurray-Cold Lake: Matthew Gilks is the NDP candidate. Gilks is a vice-president with UFCW 401. Brian Deheer is the Green Party candidate. Deheer was the federal Green candidate in the 2014 Fort McMurray-Athabasca by-election and in Fort McMurray-Cold Lake during the 2015 federal general election, and most recently in the 2019 provincial election in Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche.
Grande Prairie-Mackenzie: Erin Alyward is the NDP candidate and Shelley Termuende is the Green Party candidate.
Medicine Hat-Cardson-Warner: Liz Thomson is the NDP candidate. Thomson is the community connections coordinator with Saamis Immigration.
Red Deer-Lacombe: Lauren Pezzela is the NDP candidate. She is vice-president and coach of the Central Alberta Quidditch league. Sarah Palmer has replaced Desmond Bull as the Green Party candidate.
Red Deer-Mountain View: Logan Garbanewski has been nominated as the NDP candidate.
Peace River-Westlock: Jennifer Villeburn has been nominated as the NDP candidate. She was the NDP candidate in Peace River in 2006 and Green Party candidate in 2008.
St. Albert-Edmonton: Kathleen Mpulubusi is the NDP candidate. Mpulubusi is a Letter Carrier with Canada Post and an active member of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. Rob Dunbar is the Green Party candidate.
Sherwood Park-Fort Saskatchewan: Ronald Thiering has been nominated as the Liberal Party candidate.
Sturgeon River-Parkland: Guy Desforges has been nominated as the NDP candidate. Desforges is the president of Unifor Local 445 in Edmonton. He was the NDP candidate in this riding in the 2015 federal election.
Yellowhead: Kristine Bowman has been nominated as the NDP candidate. She is a Letter Carrier with Canada Post.
Please contact me at david.cournoyer@gmail.com for additions or updates related to candidate nominations in Alberta and I will add them to the list. Thank you!
Photo: Campaign central in Edmonton-Centre: Randy Boissonnault’s campaign office (in an old bank) and James Cumming’s campaign office (in an old car dealership) are kitty-corner to each other on Jasper Avenue and 115 Street.
The first full day of Canada’s 2019 federal election campaign marked another round of new candidate nomination updates for the Liberal Party, New Democratic Party, Green Party, and other opposition parties in Alberta. Here are the latest updates:
- Gwyneth Midgley has been nominated as the Liberal Party candidate in Banff-Airdire. Midgley is the executive director of the Alberta Liberal Party and was that party’s 2019 candidate in Banff-Kananaskis, where she earned 1.08 per cent of the vote. Previously declared nomination candidate Jaro Giesbrecht announced on social media that his candidacy had not passed the Liberal Party’s vetting process.
- The NDP has nominated retired Registered Nurse Holly Heffernan in Calgary-Heritage, app developer Patrick King in Calgary-Nose Hill, UFCW Local 401 activist Charmaine St. Germain in Edmonton-Manning, and law student Noah Garver in Edmonton-Wetaskiwin. Hefferman has run for the NDP in numerous past provincial and federal elections, most recently as the provincial NDP candidate in Drumheller-Stettler.
- Logan Garbanewski is seeking the NDP nomination in Red Deer-Mountain View and a selection meeting is scheduled to take place on September 20
- The Green Party has nominated Jeff Cullihall in Edmonton-West, Brian Deheer in Fort McMurray-Cold Lake, Shannon Hawthore in Medicine Hat-Cardston-Warner, Angelena Satdeo in Yellowhead, Allison Tulick in Calgary-Heritage, Chris Vallee in Edmonton-Manning, and Stephanie Watson in Lethbridge
- The Christian Heritage Party has nominated Tom Lipp in Bow River, Esther Sutherland in Calgary-Forest Lawn, Larry Heather in Calgary-Heritage, Joseph Alexander in Calgary-Skyview, Christine Armas in Edmonton-Griesbach, Pamella Phiri in Edmonton-Manning, Don Melanson in Edmonton-Mill Woods, and Marc Singerland in Lethbridge. Slingerland narrowly lost the United Conservative Party nomination in Cardston-Siksika to Joseph Schow ahead of the 2019 provincial election.
- The Marxist-Leninist Party has nominated Kevan Hunter in Calgary-Confederation, Peggy Askin in Calgary-Nose Hill, Daniel Blanchard in Calgary-Skyview, Peggy Morton in Edmonton-Centre, Mary Joyce in Edmonton-Griesbach, and Andre Vachon in Edmonton-Manning.
- Naomi Rankin is the Communist Party of Canada candidate in Edmonton-Strathcona. Rankin has served as leader of the Communist Party of Alberta since 1992 and has run in every provincial and federal election in Alberta since 1982. Also running for the Communist Party are Jonathan Trautman in Calgary-Forest Lawn and Adam Handy in Calgary-Skyview.
Please contact me at david.cournoyer@gmail.com for additions or updates related to candidate nominations in Alberta and I will add them to the list. Thank you!
Thank you to CBC Edmonton for having me on the radio on Tuesday morning to talk politics with Mark Connolly, Melissa Caouette, and Chaldeans Mensah ahead of the official election call.
With less than 100 days until Canada’s federal election, the political parties are continuing to nominate candidates in Alberta ahead of the October 21, 2019 vote. The Conservative Party has now nominated candidates in all of the province’s 34 electoral districts, and other main parties, the Liberal Party, New Democratic Party, and Green Party are slowly beginning to fill their slates. The right-wing People’s Party of Canada has chosen candidates in all of the province’s federal electoral districts.
And here are some of the latest updates to this list of candidates nominated and running for nominations ahead of the October 2019 federal election:
Battle River-Crowfoot: Damien Kurek defeated former Ontario MP Jeff Watson and teacher Jefferson McClung to win the Conservative Party nomination in the sprawling east central rural Alberta district of Battle River-Crowfoot. Kurek works as a constituency assistant in retiring MP Kevin Sorenson‘s office and previously worked as a researcher for the Saskatchewan Party Caucus in Regina. Previous to this bid, Watson served as the Conservative MP for Essex from 2004 to 2015 before moving to Alberta and running for the United Conservative Party nomination in Calgary-Peigan in 2018.
Calgary-Confederation: Jordan Stein defeated Todd Kathol and Larry Ottewell to secure the Liberal Party nomination in Calgary-Confederation. Stein was the provincial NDP candidate in Calgary-Glenmore in the recent provincial election where she earned 32 percent of the vote and placed second behind UCP candidate Whitney Issik. Calgary-Confederation was the home of the Liberal Party’s highest vote total in the 2015 federal election, with then-candidate Matt Grant earning 29,083 votes to Conservative candidate Len Webber’s 30,669 votes.
Calgary-Forest Lawn: William Carnegie has been nominated as the Green Party candidate in this east Calgary district. Carnegie is the president of the Forest Lawn Community Association and ran for the provincial Green Party in 2019 in Calgary-East, earning 2.3 percent of the vote.
Edmonton-Centre: Katherine Swampy is expected to be nominated as the NDP candidate in Edmonton-Centre on July 22, 2019. Swampy is a councillor with the Samson Cree Nation, member of the board of directors for Peace Hills Trust, and previously ran for the NDP in the 2015 provincial election in Drayton Valley-Devon and the 2015 federal election in Battle River-Crowfoot. She endorsed Niki Ashton in the federal NDP’s 2017 leadership race.
Edmonton-Greisbach: Well-known youth worker and social advocate Mark Cherrington and business-owner Victoria Stevens are seeking the NDP nomination in this east Edmonton district. The NDP had their second strongest showing in Alberta in this district in 2015, with Janis Irwin earning 34 percent to Conservative candidate Kerry Diotte‘s 39 percent. Irwin was elected as the MLA for Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood in the 2019 provincial election.
Brian Gold has announced his plan to seek the yet to be scheduled Liberal Party nomination in this district. Gold earned 21.6 percent of the vote as the Liberal Party candidate in Edmonton-Greisbach in 2015, and he later earned 12 percent of the vote in the 2017 Sturgeon River-Parkland by-election.
Edmonton-Mill Woods: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was in Edmonton last week to speak at the nomination meeting acclaiming MP Amarjeet Sohi as the Liberal Party candidate in the upcoming election. Sohi was first elected in 2015 and currently serves as Minister of Natural Resources. Before his jump into federal politics, Sohi served on Edmonton City Council from 2007 to 2015.
NDP organizer Nigel Logan seeking his party’s in Edmonton-Mill Woods at a meeting expected to be held on July 24, 2019. Logan was a candidate for Edmonton City Council in Ward 12 during the 2017 municipal election, where he earned 11.4 percent of the vote. Logan currently works as a constituency assistant to Edmonton-Strathcona NDP MP Linda Duncan.
The previous NDP candidate in this district, Jasvir Deol, was elected as the NDP MLA for Edmonton-Meadows in April 2015.
Edmonton-Strathcona: Sam Lilly defeated Julia Bareman to secure the Conservative Party nomination. Lilly was endorsed by Diotte and former Edmonton-Gold Bar MLA David Dorward. Activist and owner of the Earth’s General Store Michael Kalmanovitch has been nominated as the Green Party candidate.
This south central Edmonton district has been represented by NDP MP Linda Duncan since 2008. Duncan is not seeking re-election.
Lethbridge: Shandi Bleiken defeated Sheldon Krul to win the NDP nomination in this southern Alberta district. Bleiken is a community activist and former president of OUTreach Southern Alberta. The NDP candidate in the 2015 federal election placed second with 20.5 percent of the vote.
Banff-Airdrie: Jaro Giesbrecht has announced his intention to seek the Liberal Party nomination in Banff-Airdrie, which has not yet been scheduled. Giesbrecht recently ran for the provincial Liberal Party in Calgary-Peigan, earning 1.9 percent of the vote.
Peace River-Westlock: Julie Asterisk and Peter Nygaard are seeking the Green Party nomination in this north west Alberta district, scheduled for August 3.
Asterisk works in communications and fund development with the Keepers of the Athabasca organization and was the program coordinator with the Slave Lake Native Friendship Centre. She was the Green candidate in Fort McMurray-Athabasca in the 2011 election, where she earned 4.5 percent of the vote.
Nygaard is owner and operator of a plumbing and gas fitting business in Joussar. He and his wife, Shahla, wrote the book Decade of Discovery which chronicles their decade-long bike trip through Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and South America.
Please contact me at david.cournoyer@gmail.com for additions or updates related to candidate nominations in Alberta and I will add them to the list.
Daveberta on the CBC Pollcast
I was thrilled to join Eric Grenier on the CBC Pollcast podcast this week to discuss Alberta’s political landscape ahead of the October 2019 federal election, with a specific focus on Calgary-Centre, Calgary-Confederation, Calgary-Skyview, Edmonton-Centre, Edmonton-Greisbach, Edmonton-Mill Woods, and Edmonton-Strathcona.