Former federal Conservative cabinet minister Jason Kenney will be seeking a seat in the Alberta legislature on Thursday.
The seat in the southwest riding of Calgary Lougheed came open after the current MLA stepped aside to make room for a legislative run for Kenney, who became leader of the newly merged United Conservative Party in late October.
Kenney, the leader and architect of the United Conservative Party – a merger of the Progressive Conservative and Wildrose parties – is anxious to gain a seat in the legislature so he can go head-to-head with NDP Premier Rachel Notley before the 2019 provincial election.
He is one of seven candidates in the constituency that has traditionally voted Conservative.
Lori Williams, a political scientist at Mount Royal University, says Kenney will likely win in a landslide but he needs to win convincingly.
She says even if it’s close it will hurt Kenney’s claims that Alberta is a conservative province who were hoodwinked into electing the NDP in 2015.