Kent Prestage – daveberta.ca – Alberta Politics and Elections

City Councillor Rob Miyashiro running for Alberta NDP nomination in Lethbridge-East

Rob Miyashiro Alberta NDP Lethbridge-East — Rob Miyashiro (source: City of Lethbridge website)

Lethbridge City Councillor Rob Miyashiro is running for Alberta NDP nomination in Lethbridge-East.

Miyashiro has served on Lethbridge City Council since 2013 and is the executive director of the Lethbridge Senior Citizens Organization. He has been a vocal supporter of harm-reduction programs like Lethbridge’s safe consumption site and in 2020 co-sponsored a by-law banning conversion therapy in Lethbridge.

“Not only has Jason Kenney downloaded costs onto cities like Lethbridge, but he has also failed to deliver on his promise of economic prosperity and jobs,” Miyashiro said in a press release.

“Rachel [Notley] is a good leader, she was a great Premier, and an NDP government will work for a truly diversified economy with good paying jobs for our community for years to come,” Miyashiro said.

Nathan Neudorf Lethbridge East UCP MLA — Nathan Neudorf

This will be Miyashiro’s second time running in Lethbridge-East. He was the Alberta Liberal candidate in the district in the 2012 provincial election, placing third with 14.6 per cent of the vote behind Progressive Conservative candidate Bridget Pastoor, who crossed the floor from the Liberals in 2011, and Wildrose Party candidate Kent Prestage.

The district is currently represented by United Conservative Party MLA Nathan Neudorf, who was recently elected as Chair of the UCP Caucus following Todd Loewen’s resignation and expulsion from the UCP Caucus. Neudorf was first elected in 2019 after defeating one-term NDP MLA Maria Fitzpatrick.

Lethbridge-East has a unique voting history for a district in southern Alberta.

Ken Nicol MLA Lethbridge East Liberal — Ken Nicol

Lethbridge’s electoral history is more liberal-leaning than most of southern Alberta, likely due to the influence of the University of Lethbridge and Lethbridge College and a large number of public sector workers in the city.

Even during Ralph Klein’s time as Premier, the Liberals either won a plurality of the votes or matched the PC vote in the city, mostly due to the large margins of victory earned by popular Lethbridge-East MLAs Ken Nicol and Pastoor.

Nicol represented Lethbridge-East from 1993 until he jumped into federal politics in 2004.

The popular former U of L Agriculture professor with Kenny Loggins-looks first ran for the Liberal Party leadership in 1998 and later led the party and the Official Opposition from 2001 to 2004.

Bridget Pastoor Lethbridge-East MLA — Bridget Pastoor

The soft-spoken Nicol inherited a debt-ridden party and caucus of mostly Edmonton MLAs who survived a crushing defeat in the 2001 election. And, unlike most of his Liberal colleagues, Nicol’s personal popularity in Lethbridge helped him earn a wide margin of victory in that election.

Pastoor, a Registered Nurse and popular former city councillor, was elected as a Liberal in 2004 and 2008 and later as a PC candidate in 2012 after she crossed the floor. Pastoor was succeeded by Fitzpatrick in 2015 and served until she was defeated in 2019 by Neudorf.

NDP MLA Shannon Phillips represents the neighbouring Lethbridge-West district.

Election results in Lethbridge-East from 1986 to 2019.

alberta politics notes 6/10/2010

– The Edmonton Journal’s Sheila Pratt attended and wrote an article about an Alberta Party Big Listen meeting that she attended.
– Liberal leader David Swann had an op-ed published in the Calgary Herald outlining his party’s ‘12-step plan to clean up government.’ Dr. Swann may need a plan to mend some fences mended inside his party as some long-time Liberal organizers in Edmonton are very unhappy about a motion passed at their recent policy convention.
– Alberta’s two NDP MLAs have been spending a lot of time in northwestern Alberta. Brian Mason recently spoke to the Hinton Chamber of Commerce and joined his colleague Rachel Notley in touring the Peace Country.
– Wildrose Alliance leader Danielle Smith is drawing the crowds. Ms. Smith had over 150 people welcome her at a recent visit to Lacombe, a big increase from eight months ago when another event only drew 25 people.
– The Federal Conservatives will nominate their candidate in Lethbridge on June 19. Nomination candidates include Mark Switzer, Jim Hillyer, Kent Prestage, and Lorna Peacock.
– Long-time municipal councillor and two-time Liberal candidate John Vyboh is running for Mayor of Wood Buffalo. Mr. Vyboh ran against Fort McMurray MLA Guy Boutilier in 1997 and 2001 (Mr. Boutilier was booted from the PC caucus in 2009 and now sits as an Independent MLA). Current Mayor Melissa Blake has not announced whether she will seek a third-term in office.
– Environment Minister Rob Renner and Cardston-Taber-Warner MLA Broyce Jacobs are being dispatched to trade and energy meetings in the United States.
– Boycotts in Bellingham. Nude protesters at Lush. Slate Magazine critics. Even the 2010 Marxism conference featured a seminar titled “Tar sands: the case against the world’s most destructive development.”
– The Alberta Chambers of Commerce has released a swath of new advocacy policies.
– After public pressure to open up their invite-only meetings, consultation meetings for the new Alberta Health Act are now open to the public.
– The Public Safety and Services committee met to discuss the issue of transparency in leadership races and have decided that most Albertans are not interested in such matters. PC MLAs on the committee decided to compile a list of groups to invite to consult and not to publicly advertise the meeting. The PCs ran into trouble earlier this year when backbench MLAs supported Wetaskiwin-Camrose MLA Verlyn Olson‘s motion to remove powers of the Public Accounts Committee Chairman (who is Edmonton-Gold Bar Liberal MLA Hugh MacDonald). Mr. Olson later withdrew his motion after significant public pressure.

Read more in the Alberta Politics Notes archive.