Categories
Alberta Politics

alberta election candidates update – march 2012.

With a provincial election expected to be called early next week, three of Alberta’s main political parties – the Progressive Conservatives, New Democrats, and Wildrose Party – have nominated full-slates of 87 candidates. The official opposition Liberal Party, with 60 candidates nominated, is rushing to fill  their remaining 27 candidacies. Expected to nominate more than 30 candidates in this election, the Alberta Party has already nominated 27 candidates. The Evergreen Party, which has risen from the financial ashes of the defunct Green Party, has sixteen candidates nominated across the province. [Last week, I spoke on CBC Calgary’s The Eyeopener how different political parties are progressing in candidate nominations].

Alberta Liberal Party nominated election candidates (March 22, 2012)
Alberta Liberal Party nominated election candidates (March 22, 2012)
Alberta Party nominated election candidates (March 22, 2012)
Alberta Party nominated election candidates (March 22, 2012)
Evergreen Party nominated election candidates (March 22, 2012)
Evergreen Party nominated election candidates (March 22, 2012)

Here are a few of the recent updates that I have made to the growing list of candidates running in the election:

Lacombe-Ponoka: Replacing MLA Ray Prins, who announced a last minute withdrawal as the Progressive Conservative candidate earlier this week, will be replaced by City of Lacombe Mayor Steve Christie. Mayor Christie was first elected in October 2010. Meanwhile, Pauline Prins, wife of Mr. Prins, wrote a letter defending her husband to the Lacombe Globe. The local paper has been filled with letters criticizing Mr. Prins over the past few weeks.

Calgary-Bow: Ellen Phillips has been nominated as the Alberta Party candidate.

Calgary-Buffalo: Comedian and writer Cory Mack has been nominated as the Alberta Party candidate in this downtown Calgary constituency.

Calgary-East: Ali Abdulbaki has been nominated as the Liberal Party candidate.

Jason Webster Alberta Party candidate Calgary-Mackay-Nose Hill
Jason Webster

Calgary-Mackay-Nose Hill: The Alberta Party has nominated Jason Webster and the Liberals have nominated Don Thompson.

Drayton Valley-Calmar: The Liberals have nominated Chantel Lillycrop as their candidate.

Edmonton-Castle Downs: Kim Cassady has been chosen as the Liberal Party candidate in this north Edmonton constituency. Mr. Cassady ran in the 2010 City Council election and was the Liberal candidate in Edmonton-Highlands in the 2001 provincial election. Previous to his first provincial run, he worked for Edmonton-Glenora Liberal MLA Howard Sapers.

Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood: The Liberal Party has nominated University of Alberta student Keegan Wynychuk as their candidate. The Alberta Party has announced Cameron McCormick will be their candidate.

Jonathan Huckabay Liberal candidate Edmonton-Manning
Jonathan Huckabay

Edmonton-Manning: Official Opposition Chief of Staff Jonathan Huckabay was chosen as the Liberal Party candidate in this north east Edmonton constituency. Mr. Huckabay worked as legislative assistant to PC MLA’s until Raj Sherman was suspended from the governing caucus. The Alberta Party has nominated Mark Wall, professor of Church History and Theology and Dean of Students at Vanguard College.

Edmonton-Strathcona: University of Alberta student Ed Ramsden has been acclaimed as the Liberal Party candidate.

Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville: Matthew Levicki has been nominated as the Evergreen Party candidate.

Livingstone-Macleod: The Liberals have appointed Alex Macdonald as their candidate in this south west Alberta constituency. Mr. Macdonald works as a strategic advisor to Liberal leader Dr. Sherman at the Assembly and played a key role in former Liberal leader Laurence Decore‘s campaigns in the early 1990s.

Sherwood Park: Teacher Chris Kuchmak has been chosen as the Alberta Party candidate.

Whitecourt-Ste. Anne: Vern Hardman has been acclaimed as the Liberal Party candidate. In 2011, Mr. Hardmand was an unsuccessful candidate for the PC nomination in the neighbouring Stony Plain constituency.

Categories
Alberta Politics

alberta candidate nomination update – november 2011 (part 3)

For the past year I have been maintaining a list of declared and nominated candidates planning to stand in Alberta’s next provincial general election. To give readers a better idea about where in the province the five main political parties are actually nominating candidates, I have created an easy spreadsheet with a regional breakdown.

Nominated Alberta Election candidates by Region November 27 2011
Nominated Alberta election candidates by region. November 27, 2011.

For the regional breakdown, I have used the same divisions used by Wikipedia. The Edmonton region consists of all constituencies within the city, and St. Albert, Spruce Grove-St. Albert, Sherwood Park, and Strathcona-Sherwood Park.

Here are some of the recent updates that I made to the list:

Battle River-Wainwright: Buffalo Trail Public Schools Trustee Dave Nelson was nominated as the Wildrose candidate in this east central constituency. Mr. Nelson defeated Rob JohnsonTom Jackson, and Heisler Mayor Sean Maciborski.

Calgary-Cross: Teacher Narita Sherman was acclaimed as the Liberal Party candidate in this north east Calgary constituency. Ms. Sherman is the niece of party leader Raj Sherman.

Calgary-Currie: St. Michael’s School Principal Christine Cusanelli is seeking the Progressive Conservative nomination in this south central Calgary constituency. The constituency is currently represented by Alberta Party MLA Dave Taylor, who will be retiring at the next election.

Calgary-KleinChris Tahn was nominated as the Liberal Party candidate.

Broyce Jacobs
Defeated: MLA Broyce Jacobs

Cardston-Taber-Warner: Pat Shimbashi defeated MLA Broyce Jacobs to win the PC nomination. Mr. Jacobs was first elected in 2001, was defeated by Alberta Alliance candidate Paul Hinman in 2004, and was re-elected in 2008.

Edmonton-Gold Bar: Recent Mayoral candidate David Dorward has announced that he will be seeking the PC nomination. Mr. Dorward placed second as the PC candidate in the 2008 election. The Wildrose have nominanted Linda Carlson as their candidate. The Liberals will be holding a nomination meeting to replace retiring MLA Hugh MacDonald on December 5. Josipa Petrunic and Christian Villeneuve are the two candidates who have announced their entry into the Liberal nomination contest.

Edmonton-Mill Creek: On December 7, the NDP are expected to nominate Evelinne Teichgrabber as their candidate.

Edmonton-Mill Woods: Sources say that a challenger by the name of Ron Randhawa will challenge PC MLA Carl Benito for their party’s nomination. First-term MLA Mr. Benito grabbed headlines when it was revealed that he broke a promise to donate his entire MLA salary to a youth scholarship and when he publicly blamed his wife for not paying his municipal taxes.

Premier Ed Stelmach and Tofield Mayor Nabil Chehayeb
Premier Ed Stelmach and Tofield Mayor Nabil Chehayeb

Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville: Tofield Mayor Nabil Chehayeb has entered the PC nomination race. Already in the race are Vegreville Mayor Richard Coleman, Strathcona County Councillor Jacquie Fenske, and former Fort Saskatchewan Mayor Jim Sheasgreen. The nomination meeting to replace local MLA and former Premier Ed Stelmach is scheduled to be held on January 23, 2012.

Lacombe-Ponoka: Doug Hart is seeking the NDP nomination in this central Alberta constituency. In the 1989 election, Mr. Hart was the NDP candidate in the now defunct Ponoka-Rimbey constituency. He is the President of the Federal NDP association in the Wetaskiwin riding.

Lethbridge-East: With MLA Bridget Pastoor crossing the floor to the PC caucus, the Liberals are left without a candidate in this long-held Grit constituency. Ms. Pastoor has indicated that she will seek the PC nomination to run in the next election.

MLA Little Bow Barry McFarland
Retiring: MLA Barry McFarland

Little Bow: Long-time MLA Barry McFarland has announced that he will be retiring at the next election. Mr. McFarland was first elected in a 1992 by-election. In February 2011, County of Lethbridge Deputy Reeve Henry Doeve publicly expressed his interest in the PC nomination.

Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills: Darcy Davis has won the PC nomination in this central Alberta constituency. Mr. Davis defeated candidate Al Kemmere and Will Stevenson. Mr. Davis is the past Chair of Alberta Beef Producers.

Stony Plain: Stony Plain Mayor Ken Lemke is the nominated PC candidate, having defeated four other candidates – Parkland County Councillor Dianne Allen, Vern Hardman, David Cymbaluk and second-place finisher Lorna Wolodko. The Wildrose Party will nominate their candidate on December 17. Hal Tagg is only candidate to declare his entry so far.

West Yellohead: Barry Madsen is expected to be acclaimed at a December 9 nomination meeting in Hinton. As the NDP candidate in the 2004 provincial election, Mr. Madsen placed second with 21% of the vote.

UPDATEAlberta School Boards Association President Jacquie Hansen announced today that she is taking a leave of absence to seek PC nomination in St. Albert. Ms. Hansen has been a trustee of the Greater St. Albert Catholic School Board since 2001.


Categories
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.