With the recent proroguing of Parliament and a federal election seemingly imminent, the electoral district associations and some likely federal candidates are gearing up and getting prepared for the election that will come either this October, or well before.
The Conservative opposition has been steadfast in their attempts to force an election at the earliest opportunity, and St. Albert — Edmonton MP Michael Cooper says that when Parliament returns on March 24 it will be no different.
"We will use every tool available to us to hold the government to account, and we will, at the first opportunity, move a motion of non-confidence," Cooper said.
Although the upcoming election will look a little different for the incumbent MP of St. Albert — Edmonton, as this will be the first election to use the new redistributed federal riding, which came into effect in April 2024. The riding used to include the city of St. Albert and northwest Edmonton. The redrawn riding, now known as St. Albert — Sturgeon River, removes the Edmonton portions and adds Sturgeon County and a significant portion of Lac Ste. Anne County.
Cooper says it's significantly larger riding geographically, and a different mix of people for him to get used to.
"I presently represent an entirely suburban riding with two municipalities. The new riding includes the industrial heartland. There are two Indigenous reserves. There's an agricultural component," Cooper said. He also added that roughly 40 per cent of the riding consists of people that he doesn't currently represent.
"So as a result I am taking some time to work to introduce myself to those hopefully future constituents," he said. "I am spending time to attend community events in the new part of the riding. I've met with several mayors and councillors and I've also done some door knocking and will be doing more door knocking in the coming weeks to introduce myself to voters."
Although the redrawn riding will see Cooper dealing with issues such as agriculture that may be new to someone coming from a relatively suburban riding, he said that he feels the overall message from voters in the new part of the riding is that they are tired of the current government and want a change.
Polls indicate Cooper would be a government MP instead of a in opposition if re-elected, which would be better at the city level, according to St. Albert Mayor Cathy Heron.
"It's never easy having your Member of Parliament not in government," she said on Jan. 8. "Michael's done a great job of advocating for St. Albert to attend all the events he can but you know, it's hard for him to make any meaningful change to help advocate for us to get housing dollars or transit or whatever the fund is."
Still she's hopeful of what a win for MP Cooper could mean for St. Albert, and that the inclusion of more rural voters would bode well for the Conservative nominee.
"He will probably be the MP in a Conservative government, and so that's good news for St. Albert," Heron continued. "He has lots of connections, especially with the leader of the party, and so it'll be interesting to see how he can perform in government and so I'm excited to continue that relationship I have with Michael."
The current MP isn't the only one gearing up and getting ready.
The Christian Heritage Party is very excited for what a more rural riding could mean for their party. The party, which has run candidates in Sturgeon River — Parkland before, is looking to introduce themselves to voters with a candidate in St. Albert — Sturgeon River in 2025. They've said it's a common challenge for a smaller party like theirs.
"Every person you're talking to that even espouses, you know, 'Hey I appreciate your values,' and things like that, they almost always say 'Hey I never knew about you,'" said Kevin Schulthies, President of the Christian Heritage Party Electoral District Association of St. Albert — Sturgeon River for the last two years.
He said they hold regular monthly meetings, usually out of Morinville and are preparing to finalize their candidate for the riding, Jeff Willerton, a travelling salesman.
Willerton, who ran for the Christian Heritage Party in Sturgeon River — Parkland in 2021, has run for office 12 times in Alberta and Saskatchewan.
As opposed to other candidates who may be used to the more suburban riding of St. Albert — Edmonton, his more rural riding has become more suburban rather than vice versa, but said that he isn't fazed by it.
"I'm easy. I'll run wherever they want me to run," Willerton said. He understands that the CHP isn't in a position to form government, but hopes that winning one seat will change "the whole future of the party right there."
The chair of the Federal Liberal Electoral District Association for St. Albert — Sturgeon River, Lucia Stachurski, said that they've been active ever since the previous election 2021, aware that the current minority government means an election can be called at any moment. But the district changes introduce challenges of their own.
"It's a much larger riding now with a very large rural component. So that's changed our efforts a bit and we have a lot of outreach to do," Stachurski said.
"With the rural riding it makes it more difficult to go out and do door knocking. So you know, our outreach is mostly by phone right now. But that will have to change as the election gets closer."
Stachurski couldn't reveal if the riding association was meeting with any potential federal Liberal nominees, or if nomination meetings were taking place.
"I don't have access to that information. We've talked to people in the riding of course, but who finally submitted their papers? I wouldn't know," she said.
Whoever the Liberal Party ends up nominating may have a tough task. A win in 2025 for MP Cooper would be his fourth in a row, his last win in 2021 coming with 29,652 votes.
When asked about the chances of a cabinet position for the current MP, Heron said "That would be awesome. I know he's got a passion. He speaks at our Rotary Club a lot about finance and he does his international work," she said.
"But at the same time, I'd love to see him somewhere that would maybe affect municipalities a little bit more."n
-With files from Craig Gilbert
