Election: Hat ballot grows as candidates announce

By Collin Gallant on March 24, 2025.

News File Photo An Elections Canada sign directs voters to early voting station at the Medicine Hat Lodge in September 2021.

The field of candidates is starting to fill out in Medicine Hat-Cardston-Warner after a general election was called on the weekend.

Incumbent Glen Motz will seek a fourth election win for the Conservatives when Canadians go to the polls on April 28.

Three challengers have declared they will seek to win the local seat in parliament.

Jocelyn Johnson, who grew up in the Hat but now lives in Edmonton, will run in her second local election as the New Democratic Party of Canada.

Johnson, who ran under her maiden name of Stenger in the last general election, captured 14 per cent of the vote to place second in 2021.

Motz secured the riding that year for the Conservative Party four years ago with a 65-per-cent share of ballots. Earlier this month, he along with other Conservatives challenged new Liberal Leader Mark Carney to call an early election.

This year, Andy Shadrach, a B.C.-based retired political science instructor, will represent the Greens.

The People’s Party of Canada now lists Jordan Harris as its candidate in Medicine Hat-Cardston-Warner.

The Liberal Party has not yet named a candidate in the electoral district that includes Cypress County, Medicine Hat, Bow Island region, and the counties of Warner and Cardston along with the Blood Tribe Reserve.

On Sunday,  the Liberals announced that former Lethbridge mayor Chris Spearman will challenge CPC incumbent Rachel Thomas in the Lethbridge Riding.

Nominations typically close 21 days before an election, which would be April 7.

Advanced voting will take place from Friday, April 18 through Monday, April 21, according to Elections Canada.