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EDMONTON — Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has called three byelections to take place on June 23.
The three vacant ridings are Edmonton-Strathcona, Edmonton-Ellerslie and Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills.
Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi will run in Edmonton-Strathcona, which became vacant when former premier Rachel Notley resigned her seat late last year. It’ll be Nenshi’s first chance at getting a seat in the legislature since taking over the party reins last summer.
In an email, NDP executive director Garett Spelliscy criticized Smith for waiting as long as she did to call Nenshi’s byelection.
Smith, in a statement, said her own candidates are up for the challenge.
“We need strong local leaders who will defend this province and get things done — and that’s exactly what our UCP candidates will do,” she said.
Facing off against Nenshi in Edmonton-Strathcona, which has voted NDP in 11 of the past 12 general elections dating back to 1986, will be United Conservative Party candidate Darby Crouch, who has worked as a government press secretary.
In a statement Monday, the party described Crouch as a communications professional with experience in public service.
“I’m committed to Edmonton-Strathcona and to the people who live here. I’m ready to listen, show up and work hard every day for this community,” Crouch said.
Besides candidates from Alberta’s two main parties, Alberta Republican Party Leader Cam Davies is also running in Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills.
A longtime conservative activist and organizer, Davies has become a key figure in Alberta’s renewed separatist movement following last month’s federal election.
He said Monday that he’s going into the byelection with a sense of momentum.
“Albertans are ready for change,” he said. “They’re ready to send a strong message.”
Davies said even if he comes up short of winning, any result will be a sign of growth for the movement.
The Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills riding became vacant earlier this month when Nathan Cooper, the former legislature Speaker and a longtime United Conservative representative, resigned to become Alberta’s delegate in Washington, D.C.
The premier appointed Tara Sawyer, a farmer and former chair of the Grain Growers of Canada, to run under the United Conservative banner in the riding. The party’s statement described Sawyer as a “respected rural advocate” who would give farmers a strong voice at the table.
The NDP has yet to announce its candidate, but a party spokesperson said one would be announced this week.
Edmonton-Ellerslie became vacant in March when third-term NDP member Rod Loyola resigned to run for Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberals in last month’s federal election. The NDP’s candidate for the riding is Gurtej Singh Brar.
“With strong local roots and a commitment to public service, he’s ready to be a strong representative for Edmonton-Ellerslie in the legislature,” the NDP said earlier this month when Brar won the candidacy nomination.
Facing Brar will be Naresh Bhardwaj, a former Alberta Progressive Conservative associate cabinet minister, who was first elected under the PC banner in 2008 and was re-elected in 2012.
In 2013, then-premier Jim Prentice named Bhardwaj associate minister of persons with disabilities.
He withdrew his candidacy heading into the 2015 election after being accused of bribing another prospective Progressive Conservative candidate not to run against him for the nomination.
The party cleared him of any wrongdoing after an internal investigation and the Edmonton Police Service closed its own investigation that fall without laying any charges.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 26, 2025.
Jack Farrell, The Canadian Press
