Infrastructure Minister Jeff Johnson faces two challengers in his bid to retain the vast riding of Athabasca-Sturgeon-Redwater for the Progressive Conservatives.
NDP candidate Mandy Melnyk and Wildrose Travis Olson are bidding to unseat Johnson in the riding, which encompasses Namao, Sturgeon Valley, the Edmonton Garrison and a huge swath of Sturgeon County.
Johnson, who was promoted to cabinet under premier Alison Redford, said he believes she has the right vision for the province.
“That is one of the reasons I am in Premier Redford’s camp, her global experience, her competency and her unwavering determination to put people first.”
Johnson said the party under Redford is looking at Alberta’s long-term prosperity.
“My sense is that we have one leader who is really talking about her vision for the province and where we want to be as a province in 2020 and 2030.”
Melnyk, a farmer from the Waskatenau area, said she believes the election is about getting a better shake for average Albertans.
“This is about equality and this is about us doing this better,” she said. “People are wondering why, with all of our resources, why can’t we do it better and frankly they are tired of election time promises.”
She said health care, education and electricity prices keep coming up on the doorsteps, with some farmers she is talking to seeing huge increases to their bills.
She said school boards and municipalities have to be treated as equals who have an important service to provide, not as children of the province.
She said rural Alberta has sent back PC candidates for far too long and it makes the government believe there are no issues that need addressed.
“We are sending the message that everything is OK and it’s not,” she said. “Let’s get a backbone, let’s elect someone with a really strong backbone.”
For Olson the issue is not over what the government is going to do, it is about their record of results to date.
“We have the most expensive health-care system in the country and our wait list times are getting longer,” he said. “Everybody has a nightmare story about our health-care system.”
He said the PC party has forgotten its roots and is wasting a golden opportunity.
“We are going through another boom and they are squandering that boom as well,” he said. “I am really afraid that 100 years from now my great-grandchildren will open up a textbook and see that we squandered the wealth.”
Johnson said he is happy to be running again and proud of the representation he has already offered.
“I have a track record of four years and I think I have worked as hard as I possibly can to be visible, be accessible and be responsive to the constituents.”
