City Notebook: Wild election scenarios

By COLLIN GALLANT on October 8, 2022.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant

Here’ a quirky idea: Premier Danielle Smith, the MLA for Medicine Hat.

There’s no inside scoop here. It’s not a prediction.

But after a nearly unbelievable resurrection of Smith’s political career from pariah to premier, from floor crosser in 2014 to the corner office in 2022, shouldn’t we expand our ideas of what’s possible?

A local seat for Smith is an interesting but largely ignored scenario this week when Smith held a sort of pre-coronation press availability.

She will stick to a May 2023 general election date, but danced around how she would earn a seat in the legislature until then. (Perhaps, she’d be premier from outside the chamber – she’s nothing if not unconventional, and it’s technically allowed).

Smith, the only UCP leadership contender without a seat, said she’d prefer a rural riding, and could probably secure one before the new year.

Many UCP candidates are already nominated. Many may be willing to make nice. Other sitting MLAs backed other candidates. Ditto. So she has options.

Back in the Hat, fundraising texts from the Alberta New Democrats this week imply Brooks-Medicine Hat could be the next stop for the travelling Smith show and a byelection here.

Publicly, the NDP is challenging her to vie for a vacant seat in Calgary, where the UCP might face a stiffer challenge.

In typical practice, a rep from a safe riding would roll over in favour of a new leader, but former jobs minister Doug Schweitzer, late of Calgary-Elbow, resigned his seat quite quickly in the summer.

The ball would be in the UCP court to call a race and its location, but both they and NDP would probably prefer a straight up head-to-head contest.

Brooks-Medicine Hat – now without an incumbent UCP candidate after Michaela Frey announced retirement come May – is trickier to call.

How does a competitive three-way race go in the riding that starts at Third Street downtown?

Mara Nesbitt hopes to win the yet-to-be-scheduled UCP nomination, and the NDP candidate in the riding is Gwendolyn Dirk.

Officials with the Alberta Party – their candidate is party leader and former Brooks mayor Barry Morishita – told the News they have candidates in place here and in Calgary Elbow and they will run a strong race “anywhere.”

The last time a real race happened here in 2015, Wildrose to PC MLA Blake Pedersen placed third, Wildroser Val Olson – now a social media presence on the Alberta statehood bandwagon – came a close second and the NDP squeaked out an historic win with candidate Bob Wanner.

Who predicted that?

Passings

Francis Miller, who gained some fame a decade ago when the Hatter was chosen to present a bouquet to Catherine, then Duchess of Cambridge, is listed in this week’s obituaries.

You’ll recall the story that her brush with the visiting royal couple was a bit of a make-good project involving the prime minister’s office. She had been selected as a young girl to give flowers to Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mother) during the 1939 Royal Tour, though the train failed to stop while passing through Miller’s hometown of Walsh.

Another sad passing last month that deserves larger note is that of Bud Syverson, who played on the original Junior Tigers in the 1950s and several minor league teams. Off the ice, Bud worked in the News promotions department for a time before a varied career about town that included WHL linesman in the 1970s when breaking up fights was no joke, ownership and management roles at the Park Lane Motel and the Crestwood Mobile Home Park.

A look ahead

It’s Thanksgiving on Monday, of course, which seems early, but the World Series is starting late (there was a labour stoppage in spring training you’ll remember).

It’s the last weekend of the farmer’s market at the Medicine Hat Stampede grounds.

The Tigers are out of town on their first trip to the U.S. division, but bull riding is set for the Co-op Place next weekend.

100 years ago

The 161 pupils at Earl Kitchener posted the fastest time in city-wide fire drills, evacuating the building in 31 seconds, according to city wide results published in the News.

“Judges of the fire drills at schools on Thursday were very pleased with the prompt and efficient manner in which the drills were carried out,” read the report.

A game in the cross-town Giants Yankees World Series was called on account of darkness, leading to a near riot.

Baltimore faced St. Paul in the “Little World Series” in the International Baseball Association. In the Pacific Coast League, the Los Angeles Angels faced the San Francisco Seals.

The Medicine Hat Byngs were conspicuous it their absence from fall meetings of the Alberta Amateur baseball Association. Rumours of violating the “amateur” requirements circulated.

An orchestra and female vocalists broadcast over wireless from Newark, New Jersey were miraculously heard in London, England.

Collin Gallant covers city politics and a variety of topics for the News. Reach him at 403-528-5664 or via email at cgallant@medicinehatnews.com