Tag: Lieberson Pang

NDP nominate Katherine Swampy in Maskwacis-Wetaskiwin and Kevin McLean in Grande Prairie

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date April 14, 2023
No Comments on NDP nominate Katherine Swampy in Maskwacis-Wetaskiwin and Kevin McLean in Grande Prairie

Katherine Swampy NDP Wetaskiwin Maskwacis candidate — Katherine Swampy (source: Katherine Swampy / Facebook)

The Alberta NDP now have candidates nominated in 80 of 87 ridings after nominating Samson Cree Band Councillor Katherine Swampy in Maskwacis-Wetaskiwin and former city councillor Kevin McLean in Grande Prairie. Nomination meetings are still scheduled for those ridings but the Elections Alberta website indicates both candidates have already been endorsed by the party.

Update: Tanika Chaisson is seeking the NDP nomination in Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo. Chaisson is a Laboratory Technician with Suncor and a former National Representative with Unifor. A nomination meeting is scheduled for April 30.

The NDP are expected to announce their candidates in Grande Prairie-Wapiti and Highwood soon.

The United Conservative Party are expected to complete their slate of 87 candidates when they acclaim Lieberson Pang in Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood. The candidate entry deadline in the riding was yesterday.

The Green Party has nominated two new candidates, Vanessa Diehl in Lac Ste. Anne-Parkland and Kurt Klingbeil in Morinville-St. Albert, bringing that party’s total number of nominated candidates to 30.

Myles Chykerda has been nominated as the Alberta Party candidate in Lacombe-Ponoka. The Alberta Party now has 13 candidates nominated and an email from party president Sid Kobewka to supporters yesterday confirmed the party does not intend to nominate a full slate of candidates in this election.

Independence goes Independent

Alberta’s fractious right-wing fringe parties are becoming even more divided after leadership turmoil in the Wildrose Independence Party and the Independence Party of Alberta. Candidates formerly affiliated with the two Alberta independence parties are declaring themselves to be Independent candidates on the ballot.

The Wildrose Loyalty Coalition, a new unregistered party founded by ousted Wildrose Independence Party leader Paul Hinman, announced that Daniel Jeffries will run as the new coalition’s candidate in Lacombe-Ponoka. Though unless the WLC is able to get official party status before May 10, Jeffries will be listed as an Independent candidate on the ballot.

Former Wexit Alberta interim leader Kathy Flett, who briefly served as the Wildrose Independence Party’s VP Communications, is running as an Independent candidate in Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville under the “Independents for Alberta” banner.

Joining Flett as an IFA-affiliated Independent candidate is Angela Tabak, who briefly claimed the title of President of the Wildrose Independence Party following an unsuccessful counter coup, is running as an Independent candidate in Cardston-Siksika.

And in Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre, former Independence Party candidate Fred Schwieger is now running as an Independent candidate. Schwieger joins a handful of former IPA candidates who are running an Independents since Pastor Artur Pawlowski was ousted from the party leadership last month.

Total Nominated candidates

Here is the current list of nominated candidates:

United Conservative Party: 86/87
New Democratic Party 80/87
Green Party: 30/87
Alberta Party: 13/87
Liberal Party: 8/87
Independence Party of Alberta: 5/87
Communist Party: 3/87

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Tags Alberta Election 2023, Alberta Election Candidate Nominations, Alberta NDP, Alberta Party, Angela Tabak, Artur Pawlowski, Cardston-Siksika, Daniel Jeffries, Daveberta Substack, Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood, Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo, Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville, Fred Schwieger, Grande Prairie, Grande Prairie-Wapiti, Green Party of Alberta, Highwood, Independence Party of Albeta, Katherine Swampy, Kathy Flett, Kevin McLean, Kurt Kleinbeil, Lac Ste. Anne-Parkland, Lacombe-Ponoka, Lieberson Pang, Maskwacis-Wetaskiwin, Morinville-St. Albert, Myles Chykerda, Paul Hinman, Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre, Sid Kobewka, Tanika Chaisson, United Conservative Party, Vanessa Diehl, Wexit Alberta, Wildrose Independence Party, Wildrose Loyalty Coalition

Alberta Politics

UCP slate at 86 candidates with appointees in Edmonton-South, Lethbridge-West and Grande Prairie-Wapiti

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date April 6, 2023
1 Comment on UCP slate at 86 candidates with appointees in Edmonton-South, Lethbridge-West and Grande Prairie-Wapiti

Premier Danielle Smith (source: Government of Alberta / Flickr)

The United Conservative Party announced the appointments of three candidates and the acclamation of another, filling the party’s slate to 86 candidates in 87 ridings.

Here are the candidates appointed by Premier Danielle Smith through her powers allowed by the UCP constitution:

Edmonton-South: Joseph Angeles is a lawyer who previously ran for the UCP nomination in Edmonton-West Henday. He replaces Tunde Obasan, who withdrew his candidacy last week.
Lethbridge-West: Cheryl Seaborn is a Registered Nurse and former president of the UCP association in the riding. She replaces Torry Tanner who won the UCP nomination last month but resigned shortly after when a video surfaced of her claiming young children were being to exposed pornography in schools and teachers were hiding their students’ gender reassignments from parents.
Grande Prairie-Wapiti: Endorsed by the local UCP constituency board of directors, Ron Wiebe will succeed Travis Toews as the UCP candidate in the riding.

And the acclamation:

Edmonton-Glenora: Melissa Crane is a ministerial press secretary and ran for the UCP nomination in St. Albert in December 2022.

That leaves the UCP one short of a full slate. The UCP nomination in Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood closes on April 13. Lieberson Pang is seeking the nomination.

NDP sets nomination dates

The Alberta NDP have candidates nominated in 78 of 87 ridings and plan to hold nomination meetings to nominate the remainder of the slate before the election is called.

Vegreville Town Councillor Taneen Rudyk is acclaimed in Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville and the NDP have scheduled nomination meetings in Maskwacis-Wetaskwin on April 22 (Samson Cree Band Councillor Katherine Swampy is the only approved candidate at the moment) and Grande Prairie on April 30.

UPDATE: Former Grande Prairie city councillor Kevin McLean is running for the NDP nomination in that riding. McLean served on city council from 2010 to 2017 and placed second in the 2022 municipal by-election. He ran for the Liberal Party in the former Grande Prairie-Smoky riding in the 2012 and 2015 provincial elections and in St. Albert in the 2019 election.

Kevin McLean NDP Grande Prairie Nomination — Former Grande Prairie city councillor Kevin McLean’s statement on Facebook,

The ridings without nominated NDP candidates or scheduled nomination meetings are Cardston-Siksika, Drayton Valley-Devon, Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche, Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo, Grande Prairie-Wapiti, Highwood and Taber-Warner.

Other nomination news

Jason McKee is running for the Green Party in Calgary-West.
Alberta Party leader Barry Morishita confirmed today in an email to supporters that he will run in the Brooks-Medicine Hat riding in the next election.

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Alberta Politics

Vegreville Town Councillor and FCM President Taneen Rudyk running for Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville NDP nomination

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date March 31, 2023
1 Comment on Vegreville Town Councillor and FCM President Taneen Rudyk running for Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville NDP nomination

Vegreville Town Councillor and Federation of Canadian Municipalities President Taneen Rudyk is running for the Alberta NDP nomination in Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville.

MLA Jackie Armstrong-Homeniuk and Vegreville Town Councillor Taneen Rudyk (source: Taneen Rudyk / Facebook)

“In addition to province-wide issues such as healthcare and jobs, I remain a champion for the expansion of internet access for all rural Alberta. As an essential service, Albertans need broadband access for agriculture, industry, education, as well as everyday life,” Rudyk said in a statement announcing her run for the nomination.

“I will fight for sustainable long term strategic infrastructure investments for municipalities and not just the current inconsistencies of the boom and bust approach,” said Rudyk. “Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville deserves better and I sincerely believe that Rachel Notley is the leader to make our future better.”

Rudyk is currently serving her fourth term as a Councillor in the town east of Edmonton and has served on the Federation of Canadian Municipalities board of directors since 2017. The FCM is a national advocacy group that represents more than 2,000 Canadian municipalities.

Rudyk operates a pipeline welding business with her husband, Andrew, and is a board member of the Vegreville Association For Living In Dignity (VALID), a fundraising volunteer for Refugee Sponsorship Vegreville, and the former vice-chair of the Alberta Health Services Yellowhead East Health Advisory Council Alberta.

She is the daughter of former Vegreville NDP MLA Derek Fox, who represented the riding in the Alberta Legislature from 1986 to 1993.

The NDP have scheduled a nomination meeting for April 21, 2023.

Rudyk is the latest addition to the group of current and former municipal elected officials running for the NDP in the rural and suburban ridings surrounding Edmonton.

Karen Shaw Rachel Notley Morinville-St. Albert NDP candidate — Karen Shaw with Rachel Notley and a campaign volunteer canvassing in Morinville on November 12, 2023 (source: Rachel Notley/Twitter)

Other municipal leaders on the NDP slate in the donut of ridings surrounding the capital city include Strathcona County Councillor Bill Tonita running in Strathcona-Sherwood Park, former Sturgeon County Councillor Karen Shaw running in Morinville-St. Albert, and former Spruce Grove City Councillor Chantal Saramaga-McKenzie running in Spruce Grove-Stony Plain.

Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville is currently represented by United Conservative Party MLA Jackie Armstrong-Homeniuk, who was first elected in 2019 with 53 per cent of the vote. Armstrong-Homeniuk was appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Ukrainian Refugee Settlement in October 2022.

The riding was represented by NDP MLA Jessica Littlewood from 2015 to 2019, and Progressive Conservative MLAs Jacquie Fenske from 2012 to 2015 and Ed Stelmach from 2008 to 2012.

Upcoming nomination votes

The UCP has nominated 80 candidates in Alberta’s 87 ridings. The Alberta NDP have nominated 77 candidates. The Green Party has 27 candidates, the Alberta Party has nominated 12 candidates, the Liberal Party has 8, and the Independence Party has at least seven.

Inderjit Grewal and Harjit Singh Saroya are running for the UCP nomination in Calgary-North East. The nomination vote is tomorrow, April 1.

Calgary-North East is currently represented by UCP MLA and cabinet minister Rajan Sawhney, who announced in February that she would not seek re-election. There has been recent political speculation that she could be appointed as the UCP candidate in Calgary-North West to replace retiring UCP MLA and cabinet minister Sonya Savage.

Gladys Blackmore, Nolan Dyck, Larry Gibson, and Tayyab Parvez are seeking the UCP nomination in Grande Prairie on April 3. The vote is being held to replace retiring UCP MLA Tracy Allard, who was first elected in 2019.

Other nomination news:

Chestermere-Strathmore: UCP MLA Leela Aheer is considering a run for the federal Conservative Party nomination in Calgary-Signal Hill, a seat being vacated by retiring Conservative MP Ron Liepert. Aheer has served as an MLA since 2015 and withdrew from the recent UCP nomination race in her riding after finishing last in the 2022 UCP leadership race and facing a strong nomination challenge from Chantelle De Jonge.

Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood: Lieberson Pang is seeking the UCP nomination.

Edmonton-West Henday: Dan Bildhauer is running for the Liberal Party. He previously ran for the Liberals in Edmonton-Meadowlark in the 2015 election.

Maskwacis-Wetaskiwin: Marie Rittenhouse has been nominated as the Independence Party of Alberta candidate.

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Tags Alberta Election 2023, Alberta Election Candidate Nominations, Alberta Liberal Party, Alberta NDP, Bill Tonita, Calgary Signal Hill, Calgary-North East, Calgary-North West, Chantal Saramaga-McKenzie, Chantelle de Jonge, Chestermere-Strathmore, Conservative Party of Canada, Dan Bildhauer, Derek Fox, Ed Stelmach, Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood, Edmonton-Meadowlark, Edmonton-West Henday, Federation of Canadian Municipalities, Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville, Gladys Blackmore, Grande Prairie, Harjit Singh Saroya, Independence Party of Alberta, Inderjit Grewal, Jackie Homeniuk-Armstrong, Jacquie Fenske, Jessica Littlewood, Karen Shaw, Larry Gibson, Leela Aheer, Lieberson Pang, Marie Rittenhouse, Maskwacis-Wetaskiwin, Morinville-St. Albert, Nolan Dyck, Rachel Notley, Rajan Sawhney, Ron Liepert, Sonya Savage, Spruce Grove-Stony Plain, Strathcona-Sherwood Park, Taneen Rudyk, Tayyab Parvez, Tracy Allard, United Conservative Party, Vegreville, Vegreville Association For Living In Dignity (VALID)