The federal election is ramping up with advanced polls held locally between Friday, September 10 and Sunday, September 12, and election day on Monday, September 20.
Residents of Drumheller will be voting for a candidate for the Battle River-Crowfoot riding, which is currently held by the Conservative party, and residents of rural Kneehill and Wheatland County will be voting for a candidate for the Bow River riding.
The Battle River-Crowfoot riding is a fairly new riding, having been created in 2012 from the former electoral districts of Crowfoot and Vegreville-Wainwright. It stretches from the Town of Three Hills east to the Saskatchewan border to north of Tofield, following the Battle River, and south to the western edge of Drumheller and the borders of Special Areas No. 2 and the County of Newell.
There are seven candidates vying for the Battle River-Crowfoot riding in the upcoming election--Daniel Brisbin for the Green Party, Jeff Golka for the newly formed Maverick Party, John Irwin for the Veterans Coalition, Leah Diane McLeod for the Liberal Party, Tonya Ratushniak for the NDP, Dennis Trepanier for the People’s Party, and Damien Kurek for the Conservative Party.
The riding was formerly held by Kevin Sorenson between 2015 and 2019, with Damien Kurek taking over in 2019 with more than 85 per cent of the vote.
Bow River has had a long history as a constituency, having first been created in 1914, and has since been abolished in 1966 and 1987, and recreated in 1976 and 2012. When it was recreated in 2012 it was recreated from portions of the Crowfoot, Medicine Hat, and Macleod ridings. The riding stretches from the boundaries of the Battle River-Crowfoot riding, encompassing both Kneehill County and Wheatland County, and southward to Taber.
There are six candidates in the running for the Bow River riding--Orrin Bliss for the Maverick Party, Tom Lipp for the Christian Heritage Party, Getu Shawile for the Liberal Party, Michael MacLean for NDP, Jonathan Bridges for the People’s Party, and Martin Shields for the Conservative Party.
Martin Shields has held the riding since the 2015 federal election when the riding was most recently recreated.
