Tag: Stony Plain

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Alberta Politics

NDP open nominations in Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo and Highwood, Advantage Party names 3 candidates

A quick Saturday morning candidate nomination update:

  • Suncor laboratory technician and Unifor organizer Tanika Chaisson is running for the Alberta NDP nomination in Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo.
  • Jessica Hallam is running for the NDP in Highwood. A nomination meeting is scheduled for April 29.

The right-wing Advantage Party of Alberta (previously known as the Alberta Advantage Party) has now nominated three candidates to run in the election:

  • Party leader Marilyn Burns is running in Lac St. Anne-Parkland Burns ran for the Alberta Alliance Party leadership in 2005 and as a candidate for the party in Stony Plain in 2004. She ran for the Advantage Party in Edmonton-South West in 2019 and in the 2022 Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche by-election.
  • Party President Carol Nordlund-Kinsey is running in Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre. She lives in Winfield.
  • Breton-resident Dale Withers is running in Drayton Valley-Devon. Withers served a Councillor in the Town of Mayerthorpe from 1989 to 1995.

I’ve added these names to the growing list of candidates running in the May 29 provincial election.

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The Ides of March by-election in Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche is a Wildrose blast-from-the-past

Brian Jean and Jason Kenney
Brian Jean and Jason Kenney in happier times.

March 15 – the Ides of March – is the day voters in the Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche riding will go to the polls to choose their new MLA.

Premier Jason Kenney waited until the very last day possible to call a by-election to replace former MLA Laila Goodridge, who resigned six months ago to run in last year’s federal election. Waiting this late to call a normal by-election would be very unusual, but this is no normal by-election.

United Conservative Party members in the northern Alberta riding rejected Kenney’s favoured nomination candidate in favour of Brian Jean, the former leader of the Wildrose Party and former MLA and MP who is openly calling on Kenney to resign.

The animosity between Kenney and Jean is well-known in Alberta, with the former having launched a Kamikaze campaign against the latter in the 2017 UCP leadership race.

Jean dropped out of provincial politics in 2018, resigning as MLA for the former Fort McMurray-Conklin riding when he was not given a spot in Kenney’s shadow cabinet. But retirement didn’t suit him, and it wasn’t long before he was regularly chirping at Kenney on social media and in the newspaper editorial pages.

He now has the UCP nomination in a normally safe UCP riding and he is openly organizing and fundraising in an effort to dump Kenney at the April 9 leadership review in Red Deer.

With no pro-Kenney candidates on the March 15 ballot, don’t expect the Premier or any cabinet ministers to be visiting the riding in the next 28-days.

MLA Rakhi Pancholi and NDP candidate Ariana Mancini (source: Twitter)
MLA Rakhi Pancholi and NDP candidate Ariana Mancini (source: Twitter)

Rachel Notley‘s NDP have nominated Fort McMurray school teacher and past candidate Ariana Mancini as their choice in the by-election. And while Mancini remains an underdog in this race, she has been joined over the past few months by a steady stream of NDP MLAs travelling north to visit the riding.

Edmonton-Whitemud NDP MLA Rakhi Pancholi was in Fort McMurray today for Mancini’s campaign launch.

While the NDP have been riding high in the poll and are flush with cash, this will be a tough riding for them to win. The UCP earned 66 per cent of the vote in 2019 and the last time voters in this area elected a New Democrat was in 1986, when Leo Piquette won in Athabasca-Lac La Biche.

But, never say never. By-elections can sometimes produce unpredictable results.

While the Kenney-Jean rivalry is the main theme going into the by-election, the candidacy of another former Wildrose Party leader makes this race even more unusual.

Separatist party leader Paul Hinman with supporters in Fort McMurray.
Separatist party leader Paul Hinman (centre) with supporters in Fort McMurray.

Former Wildrose Party leader Paul Hinman now leads and is running in the by-election for the Wildrose Independence Party – a party that not only promotes Alberta separatism from Canada, but, judging from its social media feeds, embraces a vast range of right-wing internet conspiracy theories.

The grandson of former provincial treasurer Edgar Hinman, the younger Hinman was the Alberta Alliance MLA for Cardston-Taber-Warner from 2004 to 2008 before surprising political watchers by winning a 2009 by-election in posh Calgary-Glenmore. He led the Alliance and Wildrose Alliance from 2005 until resigning in 2009 to make way for Danielle Smith.

Hinman endorsed Jean for the Wildrose Party leadership in 2015 and Kenney for the UCP leadership in 2017 after cancelling his own bid to lead the new party.

Now he leads the separatist Wildrose Independence Party, which was created by a merger of the Freedom Conservative Party and the Wexit Alberta group in July 2020. 

But that’s not where the Wildrose blast-from-the-past ends in this by-election!

Marilyn Burns Alberta Advantage Party Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche by-election
Marilyn Burns

Running under the banner of the right-wing Alberta Advantage Party is party leader Marilyn Burns.

Burns was a candidate for the Alberta Alliance Party in Stony Plain in 2004 and ran against Hinman for the Alliance leadership way back in 2005. She was later part of a small group of Wildrosers who campaigned against the merger with the Progressive Conservative Party before helping found the Alberta Advantage Party.

Burns led the Alberta Advantage Party into the 2019 election and resigned soon after amid a leadership challenge and announced plans to run for the position again. She now appears to once again be party leader.

The second separatist candidate in the by-election, the Independence Party of Alberta‘s Steven Mellott, has never led or tried to lead the Wildrose Party (as far as I am aware).

Alberta Party leader Barry Morishita told the Daveberta Podcast that was driving to Fort McMurray this week to meet with prospective candidates.

The other parties have yet to name their candidates.

I think this is going to be a wild ride, folks.

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Alberta Politics

Marie Renaud defeats Trevor Horne to secure NDP nomination in St. Albert, Karri Flatla wins UCP nomination in Lethbridge-West

Marie Renaud Trevor Horne St Albert NDP MLA
MLA Marie Renaud and former MLA Trevor Horne in 2018.

Photo: Marie Renaud (centre) and Trevor Horne (right)

MLA Marie Renaud defeated MLA Trevor Horne to secure the New Democratic Party candidacy in St. Albert at a nomination meeting held tonight. This was the NDP’s first contested nomination race of the pre-election season.

Both MLAs, who were elected in 2015, saw their electoral districts significantly redrawn ahead of the next election. Horne’s district, Spruce Grove-St. Albert, was divided into the new Spruce Grove-Stony Plain, Lac Ste. Anne-Parkland, and St. Albert districts. 

Renaud is a well-known advocate for persons with developmental disabilities, and worked for almost 15 years as the executive director of Lo-Se-Ca Foundation before her election in 2015. She was elected in 2015 with 53 percent of the vote, unseating PC MLA Stephen Khan, who earned 28 percent.

This was the first time two NDP MLAs faced each other in a nomination contest in more than 25 years. Ahead of the 1993 election, Edmonton-Kingsway MLA Alex McEachern and Edmonton-Jasper Place MLA John McInnis both sought the NDP nomination in the newly redrawn Edmonton-Mayfield district. McEachern won the nomination contest and McInnis ended up running in another district across the city.

St. Albert is a bedroom community northwest of Edmonton and this district has a history as a competitive elections, with voters electing New Democrat MLAs in 1986 and 2015, PC MLAs in 1989, 1997, 2001, 2008 and 2012, and Liberal MLAs in 1993 and 2004.

Real Estate Agent wins UCP nomination in Lethbridge-West

Real Estate Agent Karri Flatla defeated Richard Dempsey and George Rigaux to secure the UCP nomination in Lethbridge-West. The district is currently represented by NDP MLA Shannon Phillips, who has served as Alberta’s Minister of Environment and Parks since 2015.

UCP delay Red Deer-South nomination for mystery “high profile individual” 

Despite four candidates already actively campaigning for the UCP nomination in Red Deer-South, the UCP announced last week that they are delaying the selection meeting until 2019 in order to give time for a “high profile individual” run join the contest.

This mystery individual has not yet revealed themselves, but it has been rumoured for months that the UCP has been trying to recruit Red Deer Mayor Tara Veer to run in the next election. 

Veer has served as mayor of Alberta’s third largest city since 2013.

Here are some more of the latest updates to this list of candidates nominated to run in Alberta’s next provincial election:

Edmonton-North West – Brandon Teixeira is seeking the Liberal Party nomination.

Edmonton-South West – Former CBC reporter and current ministerial press secretary John Archer is seeking the NDP nomination.

Maskwacis-Wetaskiwin – The NDP have scheduled a nomination meeting in this district on January 8, 2019.

Spruce Grove-Stony Plain: MLA Erin Babcock is seeking the NDP nomination in this district west of Edmonton. Babcock was first elected as MLA for Stony Plain in 2015, earning 38 percent of the vote and unseating PC MLA Ken Lemke. Spruce Grove City Councillor Searle Turton won the UCP nomination contest in this district last week.

If you know any candidates who have announced their intentions to stand for party nominations, please send me an email at david.cournoyer@gmail.com. I will add them to the list. Thank you!

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Alberta Politics

Caylan Ford wins UCP nomination in Calgary-Mountain View. Calgary-East UCP nomination blows-up with allegations of fraud, forgery and bribery.

Alberta Election Candidates Caylan Ford, Peter Singh, Parmeet Singh Boparai, and Kaycee Madu
Alberta Election Candidates Caylan Ford, Peter Singh, Parmeet Singh Boparai, and Kaycee Madu

Photo: Caylan Ford, Peter Singh, Parmeet Singh, and Kaycee Madu

Former Global Affairs Canada senior policy advisor Caylan Ford defeated Becca Polak and Jeremy Wong to win the United Conservative Party nomination in Calgary-Mountain View.

This nomination contest was contentious, with questions about the eligibility of Ford and former MLA Mark Hlady in the contest. Ford’s candidacy was ultimately accepted and Hlady, who represented his district as a Progressive Conservative MLA from 1993 to 2004 and as the PC Party candidate in 2015, was not approved by the UCP to run. 

Liberal Party MLA David Swann has represented this district since 2004 and announced he will not seek re-election when the next provincial election is called. With Swann out of the race, Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley, who currently represents Calgary-Buffalo as a New Democratic Party MLA, is seeking re-election in this neighbouring district (where she lives). Also running is Swann’s successor in the Liberal Party leadership, David Khan, who ran against Ganley in Calgary-Buffalo in the 2015 election, and Green Party candidate Thana Boonlert. 

Trouble in Calgary-East

Defeated UCP nomination contestants in Calgary-East have levelled allegations of fraud, forgery, improper inducement and bribery in the race won by Peter Singh on November 3, 2018. A letter signed by Andre Chabot, Jamie Lall, Issa Moussa and Matthew Dirk sent to UCP Leader Jason Kenney and deputy leader Leela Aheer have asked for the results of the contest to be overturned.

According to Postmedia, one woman in Calgary-East “said she was solicited by Singh at his auto shop while getting her vehicle repaired last July, and soon after discovered her credit card number had been used to purchase a party membership.”

Singh is the past president of the Fiji Canada Association of Calgary and he ran for the PC nomination in Calgary-Fort ahead of the 2015 election.

The district is currently represented by Independent MLA Robyn Luff, who was first elected in 2015 and was removed from the NDP caucus in November 2018.

Here are some more of the latest updates to this list of candidates nominated to run in Alberta’s next provincial election:

Calgary-Falconridge – Parmeet Singh was nominated as the NDP candidate in this northeast Calgary district.

Edmonton-South West – Kaycee Madu defeated Kevin Greco and former PC MLA Sohail Quadri to secure the UCP nomination on December 6, 2018.

Livingstone-Macleod – Roger Reid defeated Nathan Neudorf and Thomas Schneider to win the UCP nomination on December 8, 2018. Reid is the owner of Tim Hortons franchises in Nanton and Claresholm. He is the second Tim Horton’s franchaise owner to win a UCP nomination, along with Grande Prairie UCP candidate Tracy Allard. 

Sherwood Park – Jordan Walker defeated Maureen Gough, Sean Kenny, and Len Thom to secure the UCP nomination in Sherwood Park. Walker is a conservative party activist and an Assessment Consultant in the Alberta Department of Labour. 

Upcoming nomination meetings

With the end of the year approaching, Alberta’s political parties have begun winding down nomination meetings scheduled for this year. By the end of 2018, the UCP will have nominated candidates in 77 of Alberta’s 87 districts, the NDP will have nominated candidates in 33 districts, and the Alberta Party in around 50 districts. Here are the remaining nomination meetings being held in 2018:

December 12, 2018 – Richard Dempsey, Karri Flatla, and George Rigaux are seeking the UCP nomination in Lethbridge-West.

December 12, 2018 – Two NDP MLAs are challenging each other for their party’s nomination in the newly redrawn St. Albert district. Current Spruce Grove-St. Albert MLA Trevor Horne and current St. Albert MLA Marie Renaud are seeking the NDP candidacy. Both MLAs were first elected in 2015.

Renaud has been endorsed by eleven of her caucus colleagues, including Stony Plain MLA Erin Babcock, Calgary-Hawkwood MLA Michael Connolly, Calgary-Klein MLA Craig Coolahan, Calgary-Bow MLA Deborah Drever, Lethbridge-East MLA Maria Fitzpatrick, Edmonton-Castle Downs MLA Nicole Goehring, Edmonton-Ellerslie MLA Rod Loyola, Sherwood Park MLA Annie McKitrick, Athabasca-Sturgeon-Redwater MLA Colin Piquette, Edmonton-Centre MLA David Shepherd, and Edmonton-Whitemud MLA Bob Turner. 

December 13, 2018 – NDP MLA Thomas Dang is expected to be nominated as his party’s candidate in Edmonton-South. Dang was first elected in 2015 in Edmonton-South West, where he earned 53 percent of the vote and unseated PC MLA Matt Jeneroux. 

December 15, 2018 – Manwar Khan and Keli Tamaklo are seeking the Alberta Party nomination in Edmonton-Manning. Tamaklo is a former member of Edmonton Police Commission, Vice-Chair of the Africa Centre, and former Chief Administrative Officer for the Town of High Prairie. Khan is a Business Coordinator in the provincial Department of Community and Social Services and founded Do Not Be a Bystander, after witnessing and attempting to intervene to prevent a murder on Edmonton’s LRT.

December 15, 2018 – “Mulligan!” Shane Getson and Leah Wood are facing off in the second UCP nomination contest in Lac Ste. Anne-Parkland. A previous nomination contest held in August 2018 resulted in a win for Onoway business owner Dale Johnson, who was later disqualified after the UCP discovered he was alleged to have paid $5,584.60 to an employee he fired with whom he was in a romantic relationship. A former member of the UCP interim board of directors, Wood was widely seen as the establishment favourite in the first contest and is in a similar position in this second nomination contest. 

December 16, 2018 – Gurbachan Brar and Roop Rai are seeking the NDP nomination in Calgary-North East. Brar is the former President of the Punjabi Likhari Sabha and is a former Broadcaster at RED FM 106.7. Rai is a constituency assistant to Calgary-McCall NDP MLA Irfan Sabir and was her party’s candidate in the 2016 by-election in Calgary-Greenway. In that contest she earned 20.17 percent of the vote in a competitive four-way race that saw PC candidate Prab Gill win with 27.7 percent.

If you know any candidates who have announced their intentions to stand for party nominations, please send me an email at david.cournoyer@gmail.com. I will add them to the list. Thank you!

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Alberta Politics

Tuesday candidate nomination update in Alberta

Rachel Notley Marlin Schmidt NDP Edmonton Gold Bar Alberta
NDP leader Rachel Notley and Edmonton-Gold Bar candidate Marlin Schimidt at the Edmonton-Strathcona nomination meeting (photo by Olav Rokne).

Alberta’s New Democrats demonstrated some organizational strength last weekend as close to 400 supporters packed the TransAlta Arts Barns to watch party leader Rachel Notley accept the nomination to be a candidate in Edmonton-Strathcona. On hand for the unofficial NDP election campaign kickoff was former Toronto NDP MP and mayoral candidate Olivia Chow.

The NDP are hoping to make gains in the next election and have pinned their hopes on a handful of candidates. This political watcher is keeping a watchful eye on the campaigns of Marlin Schmidt in Edmonton-Gold Bar, Shannon Phillips in Lethbridge-West, Heather Sweet in Edmonton-Manning, Sarah Hoffman in Edmonton-Glenora and Joe Ceci in Calgary-Fort as NDP candidates who could make potential gains in the upcoming provincial election.

But Ms. Notley is not the only candidate to have been nominated over the weekend. Here are some recent candidate nominations that have been added to the list of Alberta Election candidates:

Battle River-Wainwright: Blake Prior is seeking the Progressive Conservative nomination in this east central rural constituency. The Wainwright Star reports that Mr. Prior had intended to run for the Wildrose nomination last year, before the PC leadership race and election and mass floor crossing of Wildrose MLAs to the PC caucus.

Calgary-Foothills: Previously nominated by her party to run in Calgary-Fort, Green Party leader Janet Keeping has decided to switch constituencies and is now running in Calgary-Foothills. A recent post on the Green Party blog explains that “with the recent entry of Joe Ceci, former city councillor for much of Calgary-Fort, into the provincial race, in the interests of maximizing the likelihood someone committed to progressive values will win, Janet has changed ridings and urges voters to support Ceci.”

Edmonton-Beverly-Clareview: Darko Milicic and Registered Nurse Emerson Mayers are seeking the PC nomination. Articling law student Harman Kandola has already announced his intentions to seek the PC nomination. Mr. Mayers was the 2012 PC Party candidate in Edmonton-Strathcona.

Edmonton-Decore: Don Martin is challenging MLA Janice Sarich for the PC nomination. Ms. Sarich was first elected in 2008. Mr. Martin was the 2012 Wildrose candidate in the neighbouring Edmonton-Beverly-Clareview constituency, where he earned 20.4% of the vote. Ms. Sarich had briefly considered seeking the federal Conservative nomination in Edmonton-Greisbach but announced her plans to stay in provincial politics in January 2014.

Edmonton-Meadowlark: Dan Bildhauer defeated past candidate Debbie Cavaliere to become the Liberal Party candidate. Mr. Bildhauer is also seeking the federal Liberal nomination in Edmonton-West and it is unclear whether he will now suspend his bid for a federal candidacy. Meadowlark is currently represented by former Liberal leader Raj Sherman, who announced in January 2015 that he would not seek re-election.

Edmonton-Mill Creek: Baljit Sall has announced his intentions to seek the Wildrose Party nomination in this southeast Edmonton constituency.

Edmonton-Riverview: Brandon Beringer is the nominated Alberta Party candidate.

Edmonton-South West: Krishna Tailor is the nominated Alberta Party candidate. He is an actor and the Manager of Fund Development at Special Olympics Alberta.

Spruce Grove-St. Albert: Teacher Gary Hanna will run as the Alberta Party candidate. Mr. Hanna is the President of the Alberta Teachers’ Association Local 10 in the Parkland School Division.

Stony Plain: Stony Plain resident Sandy Simmie has been nominated as the Alberta Party candidate.

I have added these updates to the list of nominees and nomination candidates planning to run in Alberta’s next general election. Please email david.cournoyer [at] gmail.com if there are additions to the list. Thank you.

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Anglin for a fight (and more nomination updates)

Joe Anglin
Joe Anglin

“Alleged death threats, implied bribes, constituency association ambushes and supposed Progressive Conservative Party skulduggery,” is how a Red Deer Advocate report described the unexpectedly interesting Wildrose Party nomination in the Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre constituency.

First-term MLA Joe Anglin is being challenged for his nomination by former local Wildrose president Jason Nixon.

Mr. Anglin is long-time rabble-rouser who set the political landscape on fire by organizing mass opposition to the construction of electrical transmission lines through vast swaths of central Alberta. Briefly the leader of Alberta’s Greens, he grabbed the Wildrose nomination before the 2012 election and unseated six-term PC MLA Ty Lund, who was first elected to political office in the region in 1980.

The story was  first reported by AlbertaDiary.ca and the Rimbey Review.

Twelve of the Wildrose Party’s seventeen MLAs have been nominated as candidates in the next election and a handful of 2012 Wildrose candidates were also nominated: Richard Jones in Calgary-Acadia, Jeremy Nixon in Calgary-Klein, Wayne Anderson in Calgary-Hays, and Kelly Hudson in Dunvegan-Central Peace-Notley.

Jackie Lovely Wildrose Leduc Beaumnot
Jackie Lovely

Leduc-Beaumont
The Wildrose nomination in the riding immediately south of Edmonton is shaping up to be a race. The contest already has attracted three candidates and more are expected to enter the race.

First to enter the race is Patrick Kobly, son of former Beaumont mayor Ken Kobly and fiancee of Nicky Walker, chief of staff to Independent MLAs Mike Allen and Len Webber.

Jackie Lovely, a former Wildrose Caucus staffer and past president of the Summerside Community League, is also seeking the nomination in Leduc-Beaumont. Ms. Lovely ran for the Wildrose Party in Edmonton-Ellerslie in the 2012 election, placing second behind PC MLA Naresh Bhardwaj, earning 3,249 votes (24% of the vote).

Ironworker Joel Hamilton is running for the Wildrose nomination in Leduc-Beaumont and has declared on his Facebook page that he “will fight Edmonton’s Annexation of Nisku, the Airport and of the Beaumont expansion area.”

Rod Loyola Edmonton Ellerslie NDP
Rod Loyola

Calgary-Elbow
Retired Colonel John Fletcher is seeking the Wildrose nomination in Calgary-Elbow. It is expected that current Progressive Conservative MLA and former Premier Alison Redford could resign to allow Jim Prentice to run in a by-election shortly after he wins the PC leadership race in September.

Drayton Valley-Devon
Daniel Walton, owner of the Easyford meat packing company, is seeking the Wildrose nomination. This was one of the few rural constituencies where the PC candidate earned a majority of the votes cast in the 2012 election. PC MLA Diana McQueen was elected for a second term with 51.6% of the vote.

Edmonton-Ellerslie
Rod Loyola was nominated as the NDP candidate in this southeast Edmonton constituency. Mr. Loyola is the president of the University of Alberta Non-Academic Staff Association and was the 2012 NDP candidate in this riding. He earned 2,115 votes (16%) in that election.

Laura Thibert Wildrose Edmonton Mill Woods
Laura Thibert

Edmonton-Mill Woods
Laura Thibert, Edmonton Catholic School District trustee announced on Twitter that she will seek the Wildrose nomination in Edmonton-Mill Woods. Ms. Thibert was first elected in 2010 and was re-elected in 2013 with 47% of the vote.

Edmonton-South West
Tim Grover is seeking the Wildrose nomination. A business consultant, Mr. Grover was the Get Out The Vote chairman for Karen Leibovici’s mayoral campaign in 2013.

Lethbridge-West
The NDP nominated researcher Shannon Phillips as their candidate in Lethbridge-West. The NDP hope that with some hard work Ms. Phillips can build on her 2012 results, when she boosted her party’s support to 29%, up from 10% in the 2008 election. Those 2012 results placed Ms. Phillips ahead of the Wildrose candidate and just over 1,000 votes behind PC MLA Greg Weadick.

Sherwood Park
Former Strathcona County mayor Linda Osinchuk was nominated as the Wildrose candidate in Sherwood Park. Ms. Osinchuk was first elected mayor in 2010, defeating incumbent mayor Cathy Oleson, who is now the PC MLA for Sherwood Park.

I am maintaining an updated list of candidates seeking party nominations to stand in Alberta’s next provincial election. Please email david.cournoyer [at] gmail.com if there are additions to the list.

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