Mark Carney has triggered a federal election and sent Canada’s political parties into campaign mode.
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READ: Carney calls five-week federal election
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Much of what’s considered southeastern Alberta is part of the Medicine Hat-Cardston-Warner riding, where at least three of the major parties have a candidate in place.
Incumbent MP Glen Motz, first elected in a 2016 by-election, is running once again for reelection. His competitors include a returning NDP candidate and Green stand-in located in B.C.
The Liberals as of Monday do not have a listed candidate for the riding.
Glen Motz retired from the Medicine Hat Police Service in 2015 after a 35-year award-winning career.
He ran successfully in a by-election a year later after MP Jim Hillyer died in office.
Motz, 67, won the riding in 2021 with 65.4 per cent of the vote. That’s down from the 79.2 per cent in 2019 and 69.9 per cent in 2016.
While he’ll be running again in what’s considered a Conservative stronghold riding, Motz told CHAT News he’s not taking a win for granted.
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READ: Motz says he isn’t taking a Conservative election win for granted
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“No political party deserves to win an election, you earn it,” Motz said March 10 at his Medicine Hat constituency office.
He said then that his campaign is ready to hit the ground running within a matter of days.
“We have the attitude that we don’t deserve anything. If Conservatives are privileged to serve Canadians as their next government, it comes through hard work,” Motz said.
“It comes through meeting people answering their questions, listening to their concerns (and) putting those concerns into policy,” he added.
“That’s something Conservatives have done and continue to do.”
The New Democratic Party’s Jocelyn Johnson is also a returning candidate.
In the 2021 federal election, her last name was Stenger. She racked up the second-most number of ballots that year with 14.1 per cent, the highest of any runner-up since Stan Sakamoto claimed 25.6 per cent in 2016.
Johnson was born in Oyen and grew up in Medicine Hat before leaving for university and a career in Edmonton.
Johnson has agreed to an interview with CHAT News for Monday afternoon.
The Green Party has put forward a stand-in candidate in Andy Shadrack, who lives in British Columbia.
Shadrack is running to provide voters with an alternative perspective, he said in an interview with CHAT News.
He immigrated from the United Kingdom in 1970 as an agricultural labourer before earning a Master’s degree in political science.
He’s taught politics for over a decade and has served as a local government director from 2005 to 2014.
With economic pressures building from U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threats, Shadrack said Canada needs to prioritize itself.
“We should start retooling the Canadian economy so that it does things for Canadians first,” Shadrack said.
As of Sunday morning, no Medicine Hat-Cardston-Warner candidate has been named on the Liberal website.
— With CHAT News archive files
