After a controversial nomination race, Dale Johnson has been selected by UCP members as the candidate for the riding of Lac Ste. Anne – Parkland.
Johnson, a Rich Valley resident and Onoway business owner, beat out Everett Normandeau, Leah Wood and Barb Costache for the nomination.
“We all got together and my team pulled very hard and we went out and dug in and got the job done,” Johnson said of his campaign team.
The candidate said that now his focus is on uniting all of the members of the constituency association to build up strength for the spring election.
Johnson said job creation is the biggest issue facing the riding, including the impact of the carbon tax, and he hopes to be able to tackle the issue if he is elected as MLA. Agriculture is also on Johnson’s radar and said that the farmers need support to deal with bad weather conditions and changes in provincial legislature.
“I have aspired to help Albertans all throughout my life and this just gives me the opportunity to take this one step further and help more people,” Johnson said.
The race Johnson won was not without controversy, after one candidate-hopeful was disqualified less than two weeks before voting took place.
On Aug. 9, Jerry Molnar, a business owner who lives near Spring Lake west of Stony Plain, was disqualified from the race for controversial Facebook posts.
UCP executive director Janice Harrington notified Molnar that he was disqualified through an email, stating that the vetting process revealed “some significant concerns” with Molnar’s social media posts.
“The Nomination Committee’s decision to disqualify Mr. Molnar was based on a lengthy history of questionable social media comments that he did not disclose (as required) in his contestant application,” Harrington wrote.
Examples of questionable social media behaviour by Molnar were included in the email, including repeatedly calling former Ontario premier Kathleen Wynne a “tranny.”
Screenshots of Molnar’s posts were included in the email and show a Jan. 25 post joking about sexual harassment in the workplace and a Nov. 27, 2013, post where he joked about sexual assault. Molnar also made distasteful comments about homeless people and shared posts from Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos that called illegal immigrants “lazy ass freeloaders.”
The candidate forum that was set for Aug. 18 was cancelled by the local constituency nomination committee due to the “negative turn” the campaign had taken in recent days.
UCP members voted on Aug. 21 and Aug. 22 to select their candidate for the upcoming 2019 provincial election.
Johnson will now be tasked with toppling an incumbent NDP MLA and Agriculture and Forestry Minister Oneil Carlier, who is currently representing Whitecourt-Ste. Anne. Carlier has announced his intention to run again for the nomination in the newly formed Lac Ste. Anne-Parkland riding.
Don McCargar has been endorsed by the Alberta Party as the candidate in the riding.
