Calgary-Elbow riding profile
Advance polls will be open Oct. 22-25 ahead of election day on Oct. 27
The race is on for Calgary candidates vying to win one of three seats in the Alberta Legislature.
Calgary-Elbow is one of those three seats up for grabs, having been vacated by former premier Alison Redford in August. She held the seat for two terms after winning it in the 2008 and 2012 general elections.
Now, the Progressive Conservative Party is fighting to hold on to the seat andmany residents say they aren't sure the party deserves another chance.
CBC Calgary hit the streets to speak with voters in Calgary-Elbow about what matters most to them and compile a comprehensive riding profile to give voters all the information they need to cast an informed ballot.
Who are the candidates in Calgary-Elbow?
Progressive Conservatives
Dirks was sworn in as Alberta's education minister in September despite not holding a seat in the Legislature. In the 1980s he was a Regina MLA and served as urban affairs minister in Grant Devine'sProgressive Conservative government but he has been out of politics for three decades. Dirks has also worked as an evangelical pastor and school administrator, and was previously chair of the Calgary Board of Education.
Wildrose Party
Fletcher is a retired colonel of the reserve army in Alberta and has been a lawyer since 1979. He was also a vice-president atRanger Oil Ltd. for 15 years, where he oversaw legal matters and negotiated financing and acquisitions. He owns his own law practice, J.E. Fletcher Professional Corporation.
LiberalParty
Wright has worked for the past 25 years in the oil and gas industry and previously was a litigator with Bennett Jones LLP. She has also volunteered in the community as a board member of the Calgary Heritage Initiative and also fought to prevent the demolition of Elbow Park School. She regularly mentors law students and has worked on the Governor General's Women in the Oil and Gas Industry panel.
NDP
McLean is a lawyer and runs her own family law practice in Calgary. She has worked with Crown prosecutions and has helped in the representation of adults and youth charged with everything from drug and impairment charges to murder. She also volunteers with the Elizabeth Fry Society, Student Legal Assistance and Calgary Legal Guidance.
Alberta Party
Clark is leader of the Alberta Party and has taught business management at the University of Calgary. He created the the consulting firm C3 Associates to help energy companies optimize information management, which was named one of Canada's top 250 information technology companies in 2012 and 2013. He's also co-chair of the William Reid School's parent council and co-founded the Calgary River Communities Action Group in response to the 2013 floods.
What are the issues?
- Flood mitigation: This riding was hard-hit by the 2013 floods and residents say there is still a lot of work to be done in preparing for future flood mitigation. Several candidates have come out in favour of pressuring the government to speed up flood compensation as well as mitigation projects.
- Accountability: This is Alison Redford's old riding and many say they don't feel their representatives in the past have paid much attention to what matters to them, and that they want their next representative to be different.
What are people on the street saying?
Calgary-Elbow includes the neighbourhoods of Glamorgan, Mission, Meadowlark Park, Bel-Aire andWindsor Park, as well as the Stampede Grounds.
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How have residents voted in the past?
There were 33,430 eligible voters in the 2012 election and 19,535 cast ballots for a turnout of 58 per cent.
In 2008, there were 30,266 eligible voters and 14,568 cast ballots for a turnout of 48 per cent.
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