Calgarians will vote to replace two political heavyweights from the Conservative Party in two federal byelections this Spring.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called the byelections for his Conservative predecessor’s riding of Calgary-Heritage, as well as Calgary-Midnapore, formerly held by former Prime Minsiter Stephen Harper and former cabinet minister Jason Kenney.
The byelection is on April 3. It’s two of five that will happen this year across the country.
The ridings are in the City’s deep southeast and southwest.
The seat has been vacant since the death last August of veteran Liberal MP Mauril Belanger from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Both Harper and Kenney won their seats by wide margins in the 2015 Federal General Election.
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They pulled in over 60 per cent of votes cast, while the Liberals finished a distant second with just over 20 per cent support. The NDP were even further down in 3rd place with just over 7 per cent of cast ballots.
Still, some political analysts claim the Liberals have a bit of hope to pull an upset based on their leader.
“The further south you go – the more conservative Calgary is. But this isn’t quite as conservative as rural Alberta, so the Liberals have a chance here…with Trudeau’s personal popularity,” Duane Bratt, political science professor at Calgary’s Mount Royal University, said.
Harper retired from politics and Kenney is running for the leadership of Alberta’s Progressive Conservative party.
Byelections will also be held in the Montreal riding of Saint-Laurent and the Toronto-area riding of Markham-Thornhill, both of which were left vacant after veteran Liberal ministers Stephane Dion and John McCallum were named to plum diplomatic posts as part of a cabinet shuffle last month.
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In addition to those four, Trudeau called an April 3 byelection for Ottawa-Vanier last weekend.
The seat has been vacant since the death last August of veteran Liberal MP Mauril Belanger from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
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