If variety is the spice of life, Alberta’s federal political scene is the most flavourless in all of Canada. In the 2008 election, all but one riding went to the Tories. In 2006, every seat belonged to a Conservative.
Despite that apparent safety, it’s hard to get a Conservative candidate to talk about agriculture.
Alberta Farmercontacted the campaign office of Conservative MP Blake Richards, candidate for the Wild Rose riding. He currently sits on the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food. Despite several requests, Richards was not available for an interview.
Read Also

Farming Smarter receives financial boost from Alberta government for potato research
Farming Smarter near Lethbridge got a boost to its research equipment, thanks to the Alberta government’s increase in funding for research associations.
Several other rural Conservative candidates were contacted from the ridings of Macleod, Westlock- St. Paul, Vegreville-Wainwright, Crowfoot and Medicine Hat, but no response was received from any of them at press time.
Green Party
Wild Rose Green Party candidate Mike MacDonald has lived in the riding since 1998, and says he is running out of concern for the health of Canada’s democracy. As an early-childhood mental health consultant for Alberta Health Services, he isn’t plugged into the agricultural scene, but has a peripheral understanding of the major issues. He credits both sets of farming grandparents and his father-in-law, a farmer in Saskatchewan, for his connection to the land.
“With the Green Party, the general stance is that we would support the Canadian Wheat Board. But my concerns with it are twofold – one being that if we are going to have the CWB, then it needs to be Canadian. I’ve never really understood why the CWB applies to western farmers and not to Ontario and points east; it doesn’t seem right,” said MacDonald, adding he is also concerned that CWB is not transparent enough to allow producers optimal involvement in its destiny.
MacDonald is also aware of the GMO debate currently gripping agriculture in Canada.
“The Greens are opposed to genetically modified grains and different foods. My concern is I am not convinced that we really know the longer-term impact it may have on native species and the impact it could have on the environment and the ability to grow food,” MacDonald said, also referencing concern of the corporate domination of agriculture. “And the other thing is I think there’s a risk of taking power out of the hands of individual farmers.”
Liberals
Liberal candidate John Reilly is a lawyer and retired judge. He was appointed in 1978, and served in Cochrane and the Bow Valley for most of his 33 years on the bench. His passion is rooted not in the land, but in justice and he was apologetic for not knowing more about agricultural issues. The only agriculture issue he was modestly aware of was the CWB.
“From the little I know, I think there may be some immediate advantages to some sectors of the economy if it were abandoned and in the long run, it would probably do more harm than good to abandon it,” said Reilly.
An author, his bookBad Medicine: A Judge’s Struggle for Justice in a First Nations Community was published in 2010 and Reilly is hopeful his candidacy may be better received as a result. “I have had a tremendous amount of positive feedback from it (the book). I think that I have probably got the best shot of any Liberal who has run in this riding.”
NDP
NDP candidate Jeff Horvath is seeking election for a third time in the Wild Rose riding, and while he doesn’t really believe the third time is a charm, he’s in good humour.
“I lose quite substantially every year. In rural Alberta, the New Democrats have an uphill battle. I think I only needed 32,000 more votes last time to be sent to Ottawa,” he laughed.
Horvath is originally from northwestern Ontario. He moved to Calgary in 1984, and has lived in Canmore for the last 10 years. An educator, he is currently working with First Nation students in high school to increase graduation rates.
“I’m a firm believer in democracy. As a social studies teacher, I teach responsible citizenship to my students and part of being a responsible citizen is being engaged and voting. And if you really want to get engaged, you should practise what you preach and run,” he said.
Like the others in the riding, he’s not familiar with agricultural issues, but says the NDP supports the CWB, is against the GMO industry and is in favour of any measures to support the family farm. Another issue is transportation.
“We want to review the railway freight tariffs, which have been gouging Canadian farmers across the country, so that’s something we want to review and make it more beneficial for the family farms,” said Horvath. “The biggest thing we want to emphasize is protecting the family farm. I think it’s such a critical part of Western Canada and basically our country. So we want to work with provinces, we want to provide more accessible business risk management programs for farmers.”
Christian Heritage
Randy Vanden Broek is running under the Christian Heritage Party (CHP) banner. He resides near Shaughnessy, in the neighbouring Macleod riding, since it was already home to a CHP candidate, he decided to run in the neighbouring riding of Wild Rose.
Vanden Broek says the CHP would dismantle the CWB, regulate the use of GMOs, and try to eliminate the need to buy foreign-produced food. “The CHP will defend the family farm, and keep Canadian agriculture Canadian. Instead of trying to compete with subsidized foreign farmers, we’ll help Canadian producers, sector by sector, build up their own productivity and quality, until it is once again the envy of the world,” he said.
———
“IthinkthatIhave probablygotthebest shotofanyLiberalwho hasruninthisriding.”
JOHN REILLY