Federal Election Adds Spice to Alberta Politics

The race is on. It all comes down to this. Let the games begin.

Okay, now that we got all of the obligatory idiom out of the way, let’s chat about the federal election and what it means for Alberta.

On Sunday morning, Prime Minister Mark Carney visited Governor General Mary Simon to ask Parliament to be dissolved and that a general election be called. And it’s easy to understand why. With the House of Commons scheduled to return on March 24th and opposition leaders promising to trigger an election at the earliest opportunity, sometimes it makes more sense to not delay the inevitable.

But it also makes a lot of strategic sense for the Liberals. Their political fortunes have been brought back from the dead following the resignation of Justin Trudeau and the rise of Mark Carney. But many thought that Kamala Harris was well on her way to victory after taking over as the Democratic candidate for Joe Biden at the 11th hour in 2024.

Anything can happen during a campaign, and April 28th is a long ways away still.

With that said, the Liberals enjoy the benefit of the two things this writer spoke of in the last issue of The NEWS – timing and momentum. It will be a wild ride from start to finish, and this has the potential to be one of the most important elections of our lifetime.

While this writer could easily go on and on about the federal election, let’s stick to provincial politics – specifically, how this election could potentially shape Alberta’s future.

Alberta Leaders Meet the Prime Minister

Last week, the Prime Minister was in town to make an announcement about a housing policy he intends to put forward during the federal election. While he was here, he met with both Premier Danielle Smith and Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi to discuss what they view to be the province’s priorities.

Starting with Premier Smith, her post-meeting press release carried a relatively hostile tone. She began her statement with a list of demands that the next Prime Minister must address “within the first six months of their term to avoid an unprecedented national unity crisis”

Those demands were the following:

·         Guaranteeing Alberta full access to unfettered oil and gas corridors to the north, east, and west;

·         Repealing Bill C-69 (aka. “no new pipelines act”);

·         Lifting the tanker ban off the B.C. coast;

·         Eliminating the oil and gas emissions cap, which is a production cap;

·         Scrapping the so-called Clean Electricity Regulations;

·         Ending the prohibition on single use plastics;

·         Abandoning the net-zero car mandate;

·         Returning oversight of the industrial carbon tax to the provinces; and

·         Halting the federal censorship of energy companies

She also raised familiar concerns, such as indicating Alberta “will not accept an export tax or restriction of Alberta’s oil and gas to the United States, and that our province is no longer agreeable to subsidizing other large provinces who are fully capable of funding themselves.”

In the event the Liberals win the election and Prime Minister Carney does not acquiesce, Premier Smith has suggested she would be open to running a second “Fair Deal Panel” and mused about potential future referenda questions – the specifics of which were not detailed.

On the other side of the aisle, Nenshi took a much more neutral approach to his statement on the meeting, saying he will work with anyone of any stripe who wants to help Alberta.

“At a time when Alberta’s economic security and sovereignty are under real pressure, Albertans need to know we are being heard. Our province is essential to a strong and prosperous Canada, and we bring immense value to the national table.” (Pull Quote – Naheed Nenshi, Leader of the Alberta NDP)

At the time of writing, party platforms have not been published for review. With that said, the practice of outlining all of a party’s specific campaign promises is not something that is status quo anymore. With that said, it goes without saying that the number one question (beyond American relations, of course) is what will happen with respect to natural resource export opportunities.

The trade war with the United States has reinvigorated calls for new access to ports for oil and gas products from the province, it could very well become a major issue for all parties campaigning in our province. In his Edmonton announcement appearance, Prime Minister Carney indicated that “It's about getting things done. It's about getting, yes, getting pipelines built, across this country, so we that (sic) can displace imports of foreign oil.”

Familiar Faces Running for Office

While not all the Alberta-based federal ridings have been filled, but there are two ridings with familiar faces that Albertans should keep a close eye on. One is a former Minister with the Government of Alberta, and the other is a sitting mayor in the province.

In Calgary Confederation, Jeremy Nixon has been nominated as the Conservative Party of Canada candidate in the 2025 federal election. He was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta in 2019 and served as the Minister of Seniors, Community, and Social Services from 2022-2023. Prior to seeking elected office, he also served as the executive director of the Wildrose Party.

He had sought the nomination to run as the Conservative candidate in Calgary Signal Hill following the decision of MP Ron Liepert, but ultimately fell just short of David McKenzie.

If he is successful, he will not be the only former United Conservative MLA in the House of Commons. Last term, Laila Goodridge resigned her seat as an MLA to run for a vacancy in Fort McMurray federally and was successful.

Speaking of former Alberta politicians ending up in Ottawa, Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi has announced that he has been nominated as the Liberal candidate in Edmonton Southeast.

“While we can’t control President Trump, we can control how we respond – that is why I have decided to join Mark Carney in the fight for our community for our province, and for our country. And I will not back down.”

He will take a leave of absence from the mayor’s chair pending the outcome of the federal election. Should he win, there would not be a by-election called as it is too close to the municipal election on October 20, 2025. As a result, council would select an interim mayor to fulfil the remainder of his mandate.

He first serves on council from 2007-2015 and served as Minister of Infrastructure and Communities as well as Natural Resources before losing his re-election bid in 2019 to MP Tim Uppal. He returned to municipal politics in 2021 when he was elected mayor of Alberta’s capital city.