MLA Tany Yao has filed his papers with Elections Alberta signalling his plans to run for the United Conservative Party nomination in Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo. Yao was first elected as a Wildrose Party MLA in 2015 and was re-elected as a UCP candidate in 2019 with 71 per cent of the vote.
Yao came under fire for taking a trip to Mexico in January 2021 at the same time the provincial government was asking Albertans to avoid unnecessary international travel because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
UCP spokesperson Timothy Gerwing told Fort McMurray Today on Jan. 3, 2021 that Yao was in Mexico but was unreachable.
“We’re not even sure where in Mexico he is,” Gerwing said. “Typically, we do know where they are.”
When Yao was later located in Mexico he told reporters that he needed to take a vacation following the stress of sponsoring a private members bill to allow private blood clinics to pay people for their blood donations. The one-page bill passed through third reading in the Legislature in a 28-5 vote on Nov. 16, 2020.
Yao was a vocal critic of the UCP government’s move to centralize EMS and fire dispatch, and was noticeably absent from today’s announcement that the government was creating an EMS advisory committee.
Mattie McMillan seeks NDP nomination in Calgary-Klein
Policy analyst and political activist Mattie McMillan is running for the Alberta NDP nomination in Calgary-Klein.
“Ranching, farming, oil and gas got us to today,” McMillan said in a press release. “Alberta has a future and we need a government focused on getting us there.”
A policy analyst with the Petroleum Services Association of Canada, McMillan managed Calgary-Cross MLA Ricardo Miranda‘s constituency office from 2015 to 2018. She briefly launched a campaign for the NDP nomination in Calgary-Greenway ahead of the 2016 by-election and ran for the federal NDP nomination in the Calgary-Centre by-election in 2012.
“I am passionate about this province and this country,” she said. “It is a place that lets me turn obstacles into opportunity, and to lend a hand whenever I can.”
McMillan was Vice President External of the University of Calgary Students’ Union and director of the Canadian Alliance of Student Association from 2011 to 2012.
She recently spoke to the Cross Border Podcast as part of the podcast’s interview series with Transgender Albertans about their stories and their journeys.
Also running for the NDP nomination in Calgary-Klein is former Suncor Human Resources director Heather Eddy, who announced her candidacy in June 2021.
The riding was represented by NDP MLA Craig Coolahan from 2015 until his defeat in the 2019 election with 39.9 per cent of the vote to UCP candidate Jeremy Nixon’s 47.6 per cent.
It is considered a top target riding for the NDP in the next provincial election.
List of candidates running in 2023 election
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!
