Candidates to replace Shields taking shape ahead of MP’s retirement

By Medicine Hat News on March 5, 2025.

The race to fill the Conservative Party nomination for Bow River riding in the coming federal election includes the Taber police chief, a member of the current MP’s staff and an agricultural producer.

Martin Shields announced early last month that he would retire this year after 10 years in federal politics.

Few details about the process to replace him on ballot have been made public by the party, but Alberta Newspaper reporters in the riding that includes Brooks, Vauxhall and Taber, along with areas toward Calgary, have confirmed several candidates. Two others are promoting candidacies in websites ahead of a vote by party members in the riding, though no timetable is available.

Graham Abela has been the chief of Taber Police Services since 2016, and told the Taber Times that he has made his intention to enter politics known to the Taber Police Commission.

“It’s a service to the community and it’s just doing it in a different way,” he said.

Similarly, David Bexte, of Arrowood, Alta. (south of Gleichen), told the Vauxhall Advance that he sees “family farms” as a national strategic resource and has previously worked in the energy sector as well.

JL Costa has worked for the last five years as parliamentary assistant to Shields, according to a profile on his campaign website.

The Chestermere resident is a graduate of the University of Calgary’s political science program.

Another potential nominee with his own website is Josh Senneker, who has roots in Vauxhall, and has written recently about the need to have more Christians active in politics.

Former assistant to Alberta CPC caucus member MP Arnold Viersen, and former communications director on the party leadership campaign of Leslyn Lewis, Senneker is now a director of Alberta Reformer, a Christian-focused online political journal.

Rithesh Narayan is a Chestermere city councillor and lecturer in law and politics at Mount Royal University in Calgary.

Shields has served the riding as MP since the former Mayor of Brooks won the then-newly formed riding in 2015.

The contest is one of two being run by the party to have candidates in place ahead of a general election that is scheduled to take place in late October.

In Red Deer, three candidates are registered to compete for the seat of outgoing 17-year MP Earl Dreeschen.