Ric McIver does about-face on PC candidate selection for Calgary-Greenway byelection

The PC party is reversing course after skipping the nomination process and appointing a candidate for the Calgary-Greenway byelection.

Interim leader Ric Mciver announced Wednesday on CBC that the local constituency had appointed a candidate, PrabhdeepGill, to run for the seat left vacant after the death of Manmeet Bhullar in a highway collision in November.

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McIver said the association was entitled to make that choice.

But in a posting on Facebook on Wednesday night, McIver says he heard all day from people who were unhappy and wanted to be able to vote on the candidate.

"First of all, to the four Albertans who volunteered to be our candidate in this by-election, we apologize. To the volunteer board of Calgary-Greenway...we apologize. To Albertans, who need us to demonstrate that we have learned from the past, we are showing it today."

McIver says the party's board has listened and a nomination vote will be held after all.

"One of the big lessons from our May 5, 2015 general election loss is that the public must be respected and listened to, and that we must admit when we've made a mistake," he said on Facebook.

"This is a day where those lessons have come home to roost."

Dan Sidhu, Jamie Lalland Tushar Yadavhad also been in the running prior to thedecision to appointSingh as the candidate.

The byelectionis set for March 22.

The NDP hasalready selected itscandidate,Roop Rai.

TheWildrose Partyplans to hold itsnominationon Friday, rescheduledfrom anoriginal meetingdate ofMarch 5.

The Green Party'scandidate isThanaBoonlert and theLiberals moved theircandidate selection up to Wednesday, nominating Khalil Karbani.