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Alberta Politics

alberta candidate nomination update – november 2011 (part 2).

With a fixed election “period” expected to be set for sometime between March 1 and May 31, 2012, Alberta’s political parties are still in the process of nominating candidates in the 87 new constituencies that will be contested in the next provincial election.

Total Nominated Candidates
APAlberta Party 8/87
LIBLiberal 20/87
NDPNew Democratic Party 60/87
PCProgressive Conservative 50/87
WRWildrose 58/87

Here are some of the updates I have made to my growing list of nominated and declared candidates:

Battle River-Wainwright: Four candidates are seeking the Wildrose Party nomination being held on November 18. Dave Nelson is a Buffalo Trail Public School trustee and a founding member of the Responsible Firearm Owners of Alberta, Sean Maciborski is the Mayor of the Village of Heisler, Rob Johnson is a farmer and Masters Student living near Daysland, and Tom Jackson is a farmer and anti-Wheat Board activist living near Killam.

Bonnyville-Cold Lake: Bonnyville Town Councillor Gene Sobolewski is challenging first-term MLA Genia Leskiw at the PC candidate nomination meeting on November 19, 2011.

Calgary-East: The Wildrose has announced that Jesse Minhas is their nominated candidate in this constituency.

A photo of Joey Oberhoffner, Calgary-Fish Creek PC Nomination candidate (November 2011)
Joey Oberhoffner

Calgary-Fish Creek: Blogger and public servant Joey Oberhoffner has announced his intentions to seek the PC nomination in this south Calgary constituency. The constituency has been represented by Heather Forsyth since 1993. In 2010, Ms. Forsyth left the PC caucus and joined the Wildrose Party. A high profile candidate from Mount Royal University is expected to join the PC nomination contest.

Calgary-Klein: Christopher Tahn is expected the seek the Liberal Party nomination on November 22.

Calgary-McCall:  Jamie Lall appears to be the only candidate have officially declared their interest in the PC nomination in this north east Calgary constituency, but there is expected to be up to ten other candidates to join the contest. Two candidates said to be interested in seeking the PC nomination withdrew or were disqualified from the Wildrose nomination contest in that constituency –  Deepshikha Brar and Brahm Luddu.

Calgary-North West: Chris Challis has been nominated as the Wildrose candidate. Quietly moved away from the nomination is Russell Hillier, assistant to Conservative MP Rob Anders and founder of the Canadian Culture and Integration Society (which was dedicated to reducing mass-immigration and eliminating official multiculturalism in Canada).

Cardston-Taber-Warner: Agriculture consultant Pat Shimbashi is challenging MLA Broyce Jacobs at the PC nomination meeting scheduled for November 26. Mr. Shimbashi was narrowly defeated by Mr. Jacobs in the 2008 PC nomination. Mr. Jacobs served as this constituency’s MLA from 2001 to 2004 and 2008 to the present.

Edmonton-Ellerslie: The Wildrose Party has nominated Jackie Lovely as their candidate. She is the Past President for the Summerside Community League.

Edmonton-Gold BarAs covered in a blog post earlier this weekJosipa Petrunic is planning to seek the Liberal Party nomination in this long-held constituency.

Richard Coleman Ed Stelmach
Richard Coleman and Ed Stelmach

Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville: Vegreville Mayor Richard Coleman has joined the race for the PC nomination that already includes Strathcona County Councillor Jacquie Fenski and former Fort Saskatchewan Mayor Jim Sheasgreen.

Grande Prairie-Smoky: Bret McNally is the third candidate to enter the Wildrose Party nomination race. Mr. McNally is facing off against Duane Stevenson and Todd Loewen.

Lac La Biche-St. Paul: Lac La Biche County Councillor John Nowak has declared his intention to seek the Liberal Party nomination in this north east Alberta constituency.

Lethbridge-West: Dave Wright has declared his intentions to seek the Wildrose Party nomination. Mr. Wright was briefly nominated as his party’s candidate in Cardston-Taber-Warner earlier this year.

A photo of Michael Dawe, Alberta Liberal Nomination Candidate Red Deer North (November 2011)
Michael Dawe

Red Deer-North: Historian and former Red Deer Hospital Board Chairman Michael Dawe used the daveberta.ca Facebook Page to declare his intentions to seek the Liberal Party nomination.

Stony Plain: Four candidates are seeking the PC nomination in this constituency being vacated by retiring MLA Fred Lindsay. Vern Hardman is an Edmonton lawyer who had sought the Wildrose Party nomination in Edmonton-Calder last year. Mr. Hardman told the Stony Plain Reporter that “I joined the Wild Rose as a means of contributing to change in the province, but I started to see that the Wild Rose Party was not the answer.” The other three candidates include David Cymbaluk, Stony Plain Mayor Ken Lemke, and Mr. Lindsay’s Constituency Assistant Lorna Wolodko.

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Alberta Politics

joe anglin speaks. wildrose candidates get creative with their biographies.

Joe Anglin Wildrose Alberta Rocky Mountain House - Sundre
Joe Anglin

As reported on this blog earlier this week, and reported by the mainstream media yesterday, Joe Anglin has been nominated as the Wildrose candidate in the newly created constituency of Rocky Mountain House-Sundre.

Mr. Anglin is a well-known landowners rights advocate and was the last leader of the now defunct Alberta Green Party, but you will not learn that from the short biography released by the Wildrose yesterday. His past party leadership position was omitted from the party’s official media release circulated yesterday.

According to Wildrose Director of Communications William McBeath, the omissions were not the party’s doing, they were Mr. Anglin’s. “Joe provided info for his bio – his wording was used,” wrote Mr. McBeath in an email.

When asked about the omission, Mr. Anglin responded that “the bio was limited to 100 words” and that the two omissions in the short-biography are well-known facts in his constituency. “I will run on my reputation as an advocate of landowner rights,” wrote Mr. Anglin in an email.

Why did Anglin join the Wildrose?

When asked about his conversion from the former Green Party to the right-wing Wildrose, Mr. Anglin told this blogger that he chose his new party because they “supported and recognized the importance of my work advocating for landowner rights, and democratic principles.”

Since becoming leader, Danielle Smith focused on landowners rights one of her party’s key issues to drive a wedge between rural landowners and the party they traditionally support, the Progressive Conservatives.

“Danielle [Smith] met with me multiple times. She listened to me and then convinced me that if I am elected, I will be able to represent the people of my constituency, as they see fit,” wrote Mr. Anglin. “This is an important principle for many voters in my constituency and it is a very sensitive issue for me. People are not asking to be heard anymore, they are demanding to be heard.”

“What is not well known is that many Green Party supporters joined the Wildrose Party before I did, for this very reason,” wrote Mr. Anglin. “In summary, it wasn’t so much the party, as it was the issues. As long as the Wildrose Party walks the talk — this riding will be a Wildrose riding.”

Wildrose candidates write selective biographies.

While Mr. Anglin’s biography may have just included some honest omissions, he is not the first Wildrose candidate to leave certain biographical information off the official record. As pointed out on the talented David Climenhaga‘s blogBarrhead-Morinville-Westlock candidate Link Byfield‘s online biographies appear to have been scrapped of the fact that he was once the president of the bizarre sounding Society to Explore and Record Christian History.

Seeking the Wildrose nomination in Calgary-North West is candidate Russell Hillier, a founding member of the Canadian Culture and Integration Society, which is dedicated to reducing mass-immigration and eliminating official multiculturalism in Canada. Mr. Hillier’s involvement in this anti-immigration group is omitted from his campaign website biography and the organization’s website has mysteriously disappeared since I first wrote about his connections to the group in July 2011.

Even the recently nominated Wildrose candidate in St. Albert, former Alderman James Burrows, pumped up his biography, claiming to be a “Corporate Sales Specialist” (a more vague job title could not be found). I am told that he actually works for Lowe’s Canada in South Edmonton Common and runs his own television installation company, two respectable occupations that do not need to be omitted or hidden behind a vague job title. Yet they are.

Perhaps a creative editing course is a requirement for Wildrose candidates?

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Alberta Politics

is rob anders only supportin’ morton? anders loyalists flocking to wildrose.

Proving again why he should never be trusted with the responsibility to stand-in for a cabinet minister at a press conference, Calgary-West Member of Parliament Rob Anders, inappropriately used his time at the podium to boast his support for Progressive Conservative leadership candidate Ted Morton.

This is hardly the first time Mr. Anders has displayed such buffoonery. Before he was an MP, he worked as a professional heckler with the Oklahoma Republicans.

The inappropriate Mr. Anders is well-known for a hardcore right-wing conservative views. Many Canadians may remember him as the only MP to vote against making Nelson Mandela an honorary citizen of Canada. He defended his actions by stating that Mr. Mandela was a communist and a terrorist and later refused to take a phone call from the former President of South Africa.

Despite his comments that his support for Dr. Morton is an effort to “avoid a civil war in the province of Alberta over the next election,” his recent public support of the Wildrose’s Danielle Smith suggests that he is simply interested in supporting conservatives that fit his ideological brand.

A significant number of Anders loyalists on Conservative Party of Canada board of directors in Calgary-West (not to be confused with the former board) are also hitching their political careers to Ms. Smith’s party.

Mr. Anders’ former Riding President Andrew Constantinidis is the nominated Wildrose candidate in the provincial constituency of Calgary-West. Mr. Anders constituency assistant Russell Hillier is seeking the Wildrose nomination in Calgary-North West (As noted in my previous post, Mr. Hillier is also a founder of the anti-immigration and anti-multicultualism group Canadian Culture and Integration Society). Another member of Mr. Anders’ board of directors, Tim Dyck, is seeking the Wildrose nomination in Calgary-Bow. The three Wildrose candidates were given a platform to speak at Mr. Anders’ recent Calgary Stampede BBQ.

Other members of Mr. Anders’ constituency organization are also prominent members of the Wildrose. Peter Csillag is a Vice-President of the Wildrose Campus Club at the University of Calgary. John DeRinzy is the President Wildrose association in Calgary-Bow. Hermina Dykxhoorn is the Vice-President Policy for the Wildrose association in Calgary-West. Paul Hamnett is the Vice-President Communications of the Wildrose association in Calgary-West. Until recently, Candice Malcolm was the Executive Assistant to Ms. Smith. Joseph Zamuda is the Treasurer of the Wildrose association Calgary-West.

After almost forty-years of PC governments, Albertans are in the mood for political change. I have a hard time believing that most Albertans have the appetite for the type of change that Rob Anders and his loyalists have in mind.

Categories
Alberta Politics

alberta candidate nomination updates – july 2011 (part 2).

Here are some updates to the list of nominated and declared candidates wanting to stand for their parties in the next provincial election.

Calgary-North West Wildrose candidate Russell Hillier Alberta
Russell Hillier

Calgary-North West: Russell Hillier is seeking the Wildrose nomination. Mr. Hillier is a Constituency Assistant to Calgary-West Conservative MP Rob Anders (who is supportin’ Ted Morton) and is a founding member of the Canadian Culture and Integration Society, which is dedicated to reducing mass-immigration and eliminating official multiculturalism in Canada. He is the son of Ontario PC MPP for Lanark, Frontenac, Lennox & Addington Randy Hillier.

Calgary-Buffalo: Liberal MLA Kent Hehr is expected to be acclaimed at his party’s nomination on August 2. Mr. Hehr was first elected in the 2008 general election with 48% of the vote. This constituency has been mentioned as one that Gary Mar could stand in if he wins the Progressive Conservative leadership this Fall.

Drumheller-Stettler: The Drumheller Mail. is reporting three candidates preparing to seek the Wildrose nomination. Dave France was the Alberta Alliance and later Wildrose Alliiance candidate in the 2004 and 2008 General Elections and the 2007 By-Election. Rick Strankman was until recently the local constituency President. Chris Warwick is serving his third-term on Hanna town council. Not mentioned in the article is Patrick Turnbull, who launched a campaign website earlier this year.

Edmonton-McClung: Carrie Kohan is seeking the Wildrose nomination. She is the founder of Mad Mothers Against Pedophiles, was the recipient of the YWCA Women of Distinction Award for Advocacy 2010, and on her Facebook Page she describes herself as the “Erin Brockovich of Canada.”

Edmonton-Meadowlark: Rick Newcombe is seeking the Wildrose nomination. Mr. Newcombe recently withdrew from the Wildrose nomination in Edmonton-Whitemud, leaving Ian Crawford to be acclaimed.