With speculation that 2015 may be an election year in Alberta, political parties are getting their candidates ready to hit the campaign trail and that includes the Banff-Cochrane riding.
This week, incumbent Ron Casey announced he is seeking the nomination for the Progressive Conservative party for a second time in hopes of returning to the legislature when Premier Jim Prentice calls an election.
Alberta has set a three-month period between March 1 and May 31, 2016 as the next fixed election date. With a new premier as of September, 2014 and the recent mass defection of Wild Rose Party members, a lot of focus has been on whether the race to the polls will happen sooner rather than later.
Casey said on Tuesday (Jan. 20) that all 87 constituencies as part of the PC constitution have to hold nominations prior to the next election.
“I think some of this likely has to do with the number of people coming across the floor,” he said, adding it also gets the process of nominations out of the way early so voters know who the candidates are. “I think wanting to get some of those nominations out of the way, if they are going to do some, it likely makes sense to do them all, then at least you are ready to go.”
The former Canmore mayor said he is seeking another term in the legislature because it is an exciting time to be part of a change in Alberta politics.
“Number one, I think there is a great deal of faith in the new premier and we are really just getting started with him, so it really is an exciting time to be there and to be part of, I think, real meaningful change here and we need that change to occur,” Casey said. “I think also we will be facing a couple of tough years in front of us and I think there is an opportunity to do some innovative and new things. There is real opportunity in this as much as there is real challenge.”
He said a strong candidate in Edmonton can represent the riding effectively and support the work that needs to be done locally, especially when decisions about what will move ahead and what won’t are being made. Casey also said with changes put in place under Prentice, there is more involvement of caucus in government.
“I think the premier has put together a process internally to utilize caucus to a higher degree than we have been in the past and the truth is caucus has started to work as a team because it has become meaningful work. Everyone feels very much like they are appreciated and part of government,” he said.
