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Take your pick: a voter's guide to central, northern Alberta federal candidates

CBC News looked at the nominated candidates running for five federal parties in the 19 ridings within CBC Edmontons coverage area.

CBC News looked at nominated candidates running for 5 parties in 19 ridings

Stephanie Dubois CBC News Posted: Sep 11, 2019 11:34 AM EDT | Last Updated: October 7, 2019

A roundup of the nominated candidates in 19 of Alberta's federal ridings. (Peter Power/The Canadian Press)

It's official: Federal candidates in Alberta can nowcanvass voters.

The federal election campaign officially kicked off Sept. 11 in Ottawa.

CBC News looked at the nominated candidates running for five federal parties in the 19 ridings withinCBC Edmonton's coverage area.

There are 34 federal ridings in Alberta for the 2019 federal election. (Elections Canada)

The area spans from Red Deer to Alberta's northern border.

Are theparties ready?

The Conservative Party of Canada and the People's Party of Canada are the only two federal political parties to have full slates of candidates listed on their websites for the19 ridings.

On Sept. 3, the Conservative Party of Canada became the first national partyto nominate a full slate of candidates in Canada's 338 federal ridings.

As of Tuesday at 3 p.m., the Liberal Party of Canada listed 13 nominated candidates on its website of the 19 ridings in CBC Edmonton's coverage area.

The federal NDP had six nominated candidates listed online.

The Green Party of Canada had 10 nominated candidates as of Tuesday afternoon.

Nomination process

There are several reasonsa federal political party may not yet have a full slate of candidates, saidMelanee Thomas, an associate professor of political science at the University of Calgary.

One of those reasons is the vetting process political parties undergo to find candidates.

Thomas said some federal political parties have a more in-depth vetting process for candidates, which can slow down the nomination process.

"When I see that a party has lined up their candidates quite quickly in the process, I say there's gender implications to that they're not going to have a lot of women, they'renot going to have a lot of people who have come forward as candidates, because they're more likely to have acceptedvolunteers," Thomas said.

There can be downsides to the vetting process.

The federal NDP wasrecently criticizedby some candidates who have complained the lengthy processhas delayed campaigning.

Thomas said finding candidates to take on incumbents can also be challenging for some parties.

"If you have rural northern Alberta ridings, we know from past results these go Conservative. We need an earthquake election like '93 where the party system completely breaks for us to see a change there," Thomassaid.

"That means that the Liberalsare askinga community member to stand up and do what can be thankless democratic service and sometimes hostile democratic service."

Some parties, like the NDP, have committed to having more women and more diverse candidates running in this election.

"We haven't seen a lot of representation in the House of Commons that reflects our country, and one of the biggest gaps has been women," federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh said.

A CBC/Radio-Canada analysis found that it can be challenging for women candidates. The analysis found that women are more likely than men to find themselves running in hard-to-win ridings, and more likelyto get less financial support.

It appearsthis year's federal election will be no exception, the analysis found.

Why women still don't win elections as often as men in Canada

The threeparties without a full slate are expecting to find candidates in Alberta.

A Liberal party spokesperson told CBC News in an emailed statement Sept. 3 that the party "has been approached by a variety of talented community leaders interested in becoming the Team Trudeau candidates. All of the remaining nomination processes are moving forward in accordance with our party's national nomination rules."

The Green Party and NDP also both confirmed in emailed statements that voters can expect a fullslate of candidates for Alberta ridings.