One makes perfect sense; the other is a little harder to explain.
With a provincial election about half a year away, political parties are well into the process of choosing candidates to carry their colours in next spring’s campaign. Although most constituency associations have already completed this task, there are others, including some in this neck of the woods, that are still at it.
One of those is the Highwood NDP, which put out a public call for potential candidates last week. Given the fact United Conservative incumbent RJ Sigurdson received more than 73 per cent of the vote during the last general election in 2019, it’s not surprising the NDP isn’t being overrun by interest. Whoever the party selects will have quite the hill to climb because in the 14 elections that have been contested since the Highwood riding was formed a half-century ago, the NDP has never once received even 20 per cent of the vote.
So, you can see why it’s taking a while to find a New Democrat candidate in Highwood, but the UCPs in Livingstone-Macleod is another matter. This is also a solid blue riding, so you’d think there would be a lineup out the door of hopefuls looking to carry the party’s banner, but with less six months to go the constituency association president reports they’re starting from scratch.
There are some extenuating circumstances, most notably incumbent Roger Reid’s about-face with regards to seeking re-election, but even so, it’s hard to believe that a riding that has been won by a right-of-centre party in every election since it was created in 1997 doesn’t have a right-of-centre candidate yet.
When you combine Reid’s flip-flop with another potential candidate’s unflattering social media history and some internal party strife, the delay is easily explainable, but perhaps it’s allowed for a touch of serendipity. Maybe it’s what was needed to pave the way for the riding’s most influential political figure to run at home.
