Barrhead-morinville-Westlock up for grabs
For the first time since 1979, someone not named Ken Kowalski will become MLA of Barrhead-morinville-Westlock.
Kowalski, 66, rode a 70-percent share of the vote to his ninth consecutive victory in 2008. But just days after Alison Redford became leader of the Progressive Conservatives, the former deputy premier and incumbent Speaker of the legislature announced he would not return.
After 33 years of near slam dunks for the Conservatives, the outcome this time is far from certain.
“In years past, I think there was sort of an attitude, ‘Well, Ken will probably win, so I don’t need to get out and vote,’ ” said Liberal Leslie Penny, who finished second in 2008 with 15 per cent of the vote. “We’ve got a slightly different situation here.”
The Tory torch has passed from Kowalski to Maureen Kubinec, deputy reeve in Westlock County. The ballot will be rounded out by Link Byfield, a high-profile Wildrose candidate and former Alberta Report publisher, the NDP’S Trudy Grebenstein and Lisa Grant from the Evergreen party.
“Any time you have five candidates vying for one position, it’ll be interesting,” said Kubinec, door-knocking in the Beaverbrook subdivision in Barrhead, a neighbourhood where health care is on people’s minds.
A key di erence in this campaign is the half-dozen riding forums that begin next week. In early 2011, long before they had secured nominations, Penny and Byfield struck a pact to increase the number from 2008, when there was only one.
“As the guy at the newspaper told me, nobody was interested, nobody would have come out,” laughed Byfield. “There was no contest.”
The forums should make for interesting discussions. In Morinville, a young commuter community Byfield describes as “psychologically, politically, socially,” distinct from the rest of the riding, the issue of secular education is still on everyone’s minds. In late February, after more than a year of controversy, Education Minister Thomas Lukaszuk promised students would have a permanent secular school by the fall. With the election in full swing, residents are unsure what will actually happen.
“They’re really quite concerned it’s been left hanging,” Grebenstein said. “They don’t like being caught in the middle.”
Another possible point of contention is Kowalski’s golden handshake, with the outgoing minister receiving a $1.2-million severance package. Apart from Byfield, most candidates said it hasn’t really come up
“I think it’s sort of … put a blot on his record,” Byfield said. “It’s not that they hate him, but it displeased them.”
“That isn’t the first thing out of people’s lips,” Penny said. “Some people might even be able to forgive him that because the man did work very hard for 33 years.”
The only candidate who’s not a grandparent, Evergreen candidate Grant, feels like an underdog in an older, conservative riding. But for the first time since she was a little girl, she said, there’s a real race underway.
“I don’t think it’s a slam dunk for anybody,” Grant said. “The Wildrose party has sure come up the last couple of years, honestly I can see it going either way.”