Miriam Rycroft – daveberta.ca – Alberta Politics and Elections

It wouldn’t be an election in British Columbia if there weren’t people with Alberta connections involved.

Miriam Rycroft is the NDP candidate in the Kelowna-Mission riding in the Okanagan region of BC. Rycroft was a ministerial chief of staff during the Alberta NDP’s time in government and worked as Director of Tour and Scheduling in Premier Rachel Notley’s office. She was President of the Edmonton-Glenora NDP constituency association in 2024.

Politicos with prominent Alberta ties are leading the different parties campaigns.

BC NDP campaign chair Cheryl Oates was Executive Director of Communications and Planning for Premier Notley from 2015 to 2019 and worked as communications director for the NDP caucus during the its final years as a 4 MLA opposition.
BC Conservative Party campaign manager Katy Merrifield worked as communications director in Premier Jason Kenney’s office and was later the Executive Director of Communications and Engagement for the Alberta government’s Canadian Centre for Recovery Excellence.
BC Green Party communications chair Mike Hudema was a prominent environmental activist in Alberta in the 2000s, ran for the Alberta NDP in Edmonton-Meadowlark in the 2001 provincial election, and was elected president of the University of Alberta Students’ Union in 2002.
OneBC Party communications director Wyatt Claypool is currently running for the UCP nomination in Calgary-Currie and was a candidate for the federal Conservative nomination in Calgary Signal Hill in 2022.

Read more on the Daveberta Substack

#InsiderBaseball: NDP government shuffles ministerial Chiefs of Staff

Rumours that the NDP government was shuffling its senior staffers appears to be true. Sources confirm that three ministerial Chiefs of Staff have been shuffled into different offices and two new Chiefs of Staff have been hired.

Chief of Staff Bill Moore-Kilgannon will move from the Office of the Minister of Health and Seniors to the Office of the Minister of Human Services, Scott Harris will move from the Office of the Minister of Agriculture to the Office of the Minister of Minister of Health and Seniors, and Tony Clark will move from the Office of Human Services to the Office of the Minister of Agriculture.

It was also noted that Andrew Tarver has been hired to succeed Jessica Bowering as Chief of Staff to the Minister of Justice and Aboriginal Relations, and Miriam Rycroft was hired to succeed Robin Steudel as Chief of Staff to the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure. Ms. Rycroft previously served as a Ministerial Assistant in the same office.

It is unclear why the three senior political staffers were shuffled, though there is a chance it could simply be a human resources decision.

Tory lobby firm hires more Tories

In the world of lobbyists, the Tory-connected Canadian Strategy Group announced today that former Progressive Conservative MLA Rick Orman and former Conservative MP Brian Storseth would join its payroll. Located in Ottawa, Mr. Storseth served in the government backbenches as the MP for Westlock-St. Paul from 2006 to 2015, when he resigned and later sought the PC nomination in Lac La Biche-St. Paul-Two Hills (he was defeated in the nomination). Mr. Orman was the MLA for Calgary-Montrose from 1986 to 1993 and ran for the PC Party leadership in 2011.