Sarah Elmeligi will be the NDP’s candidate for the Banff-Kananaskis riding in the next provincial election.
Elmeligi won the nomination in the riding Sunday (March 27) after 254 votes in a ranked ballot were cast by NDP members in Banff, Bragg Creek, Canmore, Springbank and mail-in ballots.
“My next step is to become MLA. … This is my first time running for office, so I’m sure I’m on the edge of a lot of learning. … I know I have a really dedicated constituency association who is going to support me and I know we have a lot of really dedicated volunteers in the Banff-Kananaskis riding,” said Elmeligi shortly after receiving the riding’s nomination.
“I’m looking forward to working with them to get my name out there and meet more people in the constituency and to let people know what the NDP can do for them.”
Elmeligi, a Canmore-based bear biologist and conservation planner, publicly announced her intention to seek the nomination in August.
In the months since, she said she met members of the constituency to learn what was important for them in the riding and province.
She said climate change and concerns on coal mining after the 1976 Lougheed coal policy was rescinded in 2020 were two topics consistently that came up. Elmeligi also noted the changes in the education curriculum, the UCP’s handling of the pandemic, healthcare and affordable childcare also were areas of priority.
“This is a very environmentally conscious riding. There’s a lot of awareness of environmental issues and wanting to be good stewards to address those issues,” said Elmeligi, calling the experience of speaking to constituents “really valuable.”
She completed an undergraduate degree in zoology at the University of Alberta, received a master of natural resources and environmental studies from the University of Northern British Columbia and a PhD from Central Queensland University where her research focused on grizzly bear management in the Rocky Mountains.
Elmeligi has also worked for Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society Southern Alberta chapter and was a park facility planner for Alberta Environment and Parks in the Kananaskis Region.
Elmeligi has lived and worked in the riding for the past 15 years.
The event featured keynote speaker David Eggen, a longtime NDP MLA and its advanced education critic, as well as MLA Sarah Hoffman, the NDP’s education critic.
Former MLA Cameron Westhead also virtually spoke and the Banff-Kananaskis constituency association president Stephen Legault served as the MC.
Mark Tkacz, Gavin McCaffrey and Tanya Foubert also ran for the nomination seat.
The riding is held by the United Conservative Party MLA Miranda Rosin. She defeated Westhead in the 2019 election with 51.23 per cent of the vote to Westhead’s 42.11 per cent.
At 15,939 square kilometres, the riding stretches from Lake Louise to the Municipal District of Foothills and also includes the Town of Canmore, Town of Banff, Municipal District of Bighorn, Kananaskis, Rocky View County, the Stoney Nakoda First Nation and the Tsuu T’ina First Nation.
The 2023 provincial election is scheduled for May 29, 2023. However, the UCP intended to hold the leadership review of Premier Jason Kenney April 9 in Red Deer until the UCP board shifted it to a virtual event with mail-in ballots with results available May 18.
The change has led some UCP constituency association presidents to voice discontent on the move, while UCP MLAs Jason Stephan and Peter Guthrie called for Kenney to resign. In April 2021, 17 UCP MLAs – including Rosin – publicly criticized the government for having too strict public health measures to curb the pandemic.
Brian Jean, the former leader of the Wildrose Party, won a by-election earlier in March when he largely ran on a campaign to replace Kenney.
Elmeligi said regardless of when the election is, she’ll continue to meet people in the riding to learn what’s important for residents.
“It’s always nice to meet people one on one and have conversations about what’s important to them and what they would like to see their future MLA doing.”
