News File Photo There are only two announced candidates in the riding of Medicine Hat-Cardston-Warner as speculation increases that Canada may hold a spring federal election.
@@CollinGallant
Medicine Hat’s MP is calling for an election, but at this point, Glen Motz is only one of two names that could appear on local ballot – a number that doesn’t yet include a Liberal or New Democrat choice.
Canada must have a federal election by Oct. 20, according to a fixed election law, but the Conservative Party has challenged new Liberal Party Leader and Prime Minister-designate Mark Carney to call one this spring.
“We’re ready to go whenever an election is called,” said Motz, who was first elected as the Member of Parliament for Medicine Hat-Cardston-Warner in 2016.
It would be the fourth election in nine years for the retired City of Medicine Hat police inspector and his campaign team.
“We are ready, our Conservative team across the country has candidates… in almost all the ridings – significantly more than other parties, and that speaks to the interest Canadians have.”
“The Conservatives believe that to be privileged to represent Canadians as government you have to earn it.”
Parties typically have several weeks to finalize candidates after the writ is dropped to officially begin an election period.
As of Tuesday, Motz and only one other candidate is in the official or unofficial conversation to fix the local ballot.
Andy Shadrach, a resident of Kaslo, B.C., in the West Kootenays, is promoted on the Green Party Of Canada’s website as its candidate for Medicine Hat-Cardston-Warner.
Shadrack, 74, was not available on Tuesday, but a biography on his campaign webpage states the former political science professor worked briefly at Medicine Hat College in the 1980s. He is a former district council member (similar to a county councillor in Alberta).
He is concerned about increasing power among far-right parties and policies, and the use of Nazi imagery.
“Half of my father’s high school classmates were injured or killed during the Second World War,” it reads. “We need to create a future that supports local families, communities, and the natural environment that sustains us.”
Inquiries to the federal Liberal Party and New Democratic Party about local candidates have not been returned.
A scan of those parties’ websites shows six Liberals and 10 New Democrats officially chosen to run in Alberta’s 37 ridings.
That includes one in a riding south of Calgary – Foothills – but none in Medicine Hat-Cardston-Warner, Lethbridge, or Bow River (including Brooks and Taber).
On the other hand, right wing challenger the People Party of Canada, led by former CPC leadership candidate Maxime Bernier, claims to have 30 candidates ready to contest most Alberta ridings, but no mention of Medicine Hat.
The 2021 election in Medicine Hat-Cardston-Warner featured six candidates, including Motz, who won with 65 per cent of votes cast, New Democrat Jocelyn Stenger (a Medicine Hat native working in Edmonton) and Hannah Wilson (a Liberal Party worker who grew up in Calgary).
The Green Party candidate Diandra Bruised Head was councillor with the Kainai Blood Tribe, located in the western part of the riding.
Hatter Brodie Heidinger ran for the PPC in 2021, and Geoff Shoesmith, of Walsh, for the Maverick Party. The latter party, which promoted the concept of a conservative-aligned western voting block, was recently delisted as a national party by Elections Canada.
Peoples Party Candidates, as per the party’s website are Clara Piedalue (Lethbridge), Ron Valliant (Bow River), and further north in eastern Alberta, Jonathon Bridges (Battle River-Crowfoot). The PPC also lists Godwin Ezizor as its candidate in Swift Current-Grasslands-Kindersley, which is the name of the former Cypress Hills-Grasslands electoral riding in southwest Saskatchewan, following redistribution in 2022.
