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Alberta Politics

11 days into the federal election, only 2 parties have full slates of candidates 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!

Categories
Alberta Politics

Coming Soon: By-elections in Calgary-Heritage and Calgary-Midnapore

UPDATE: By-elections in Calgary-Heritage and Calgary-Midnapore will be held on April 3, 2017.

Two by-elections could be called in the federal ridings of Calgary-Heritage and Calgary-Midnapore in a matter of days. The by-elections must be called in Calgary-Heritage by February 25, 2017 and in Calgary-Midnapore no later than March 22, 2017 but it is expected that they could be called at the same time as a required by-election in Ottawa-Vanier, which must be called by February 19, 2017.

Voters in both of these Calgary ridings have voted overwhelmingly in support of Conservative candidates in recent elections (63 percent in Calgary-Heritage and 66 percent in Calgary-Midnapore in 2015), so the Conservatives are definitely the favourites to win. But as all political watchers know, sometimes by-elections can produce unpredictable results. In a 2012 by-election in Calgary-Centre, the Conservatives saw their 19,770 vote margin of victory from the 2011 general election evaporate when Joan Crockatt was narrowly elected by 1,158 votes (she was unseated by Liberal candidate Kent Hehr in 2015).

Here are a list of candidates nominated to run in the by-elections:

Calgary-Heritage
Christian Heritage – Jeff Willerton
Conservative – Bob Benzen [FacebookTwitter]
Green – Taryn Knorren
Liberal – Scott Forsyth [Twitter]
Libertarian – Darcy Gerow [Facebook]
NDP – Khalis Ahmed [FacebookTwitter]

Calgary-Midnapore
Christian Heritage – Larry Heather
Conservative – Stephanie Kusie [FacebookTwitter]
Green – Ryan Zedic
Liberal – Haley Brown [FacebookTwitter]
NDP – Holly Heffernan

In photo: Bob Benzen, Khalis Ahmed, Haley Brown and Stephanie Kusie.

Categories
Alberta Politics

Nomination updates: Calgary-Heritage and Calgary-Midnapore by-elections

Some recent updates related to two federal by-elections soon expected to be called in Calgary:

Federal by-elections must be called in Calgary-Heritage by February 25, 2017 and in Calgary-Midnapore no later than March 22, 2017. An updated list of nominated by-election candidates with their social media links can be found here.

Categories
Alberta Politics

Federal nomination update: NDP close to full-slate in Alberta

Caught slow out of the gates nominating federal candidates in Alberta, the New Democratic Party has caught up and is now only one candidate short of a full-slate in the province.

  • The NDP recently nominated candidates Joanne Boissenault in Banff-Airdire, Katherine Swampy in Battle River-Crowfoot, Matt Masters Burgener in Calgary-Heritage, Bruce Kaufman in Calgary-Nose Hill, Stephanie Kot in Calgary-Rocky Ridge, Khalis Ahmed in Calgary-Signal Hill, Doug Hart in Red Deer-Lacombe, Paul Harris in Red Deer-Mountain View, and Ken Kuzminski in Yellowhead.
  • The only remaining vacancy for the NDP is in the Grande Prairie-Mackenzie riding.
  • In Metro Edmonton,  writes about potential NDP candidates shunned or disqualified after taking public positions on the Israel-Palestine issue.

The Liberals have recently nominated Christopher Brown in Peace River-Westlock, Garry Parenteau in Lakeland and Reagan Johnston in Grande Prairie-Mackenzie.

  • The Liberals are expected to acclaim Andy Kowalski in Battle River-Crowfoot and Chandra Kastern in Red Deer-Mountain View.
  • The Liberals have yet to nominate candidates in Bow River, Calgary-Nose Hill, St. Albert-Edmonton, and Sturgeon River-Parkland.
  • Liberal activists in the St. Albert-Edmonton riding are said to be quietly supporting Independent MP Brent Rathgeber‘s re-election.
  • UPDATE: Two candidates are contesting the Liberal nomination in St. Albert-Edmonton: Beatrice Ghettuba, a Director of the Africa Centre, and Don Padget, a lawyer and recent nomination candidate in the Edmonton Centre riding.

The Marxist-Leninist Party has made a surprisingly strong appearance on ballots in this federal election with candidates nominated in seven Alberta ridings: Kevan Hunter in Calgary-Confederation, Peggy Askin in Calgary-Midnapore, Daniel Blanchard in Calgary-Skyview, Mary Joyce in Edmonton-Griesbach, André Vachon in Edmonton-Manning, Dougal MacDonald in Edmonton-Strathcona, and Peggy Morton in Edmonton-West.