How can the NDP win in rural Alberta? Former candidates say presence is the key

The Alberta NDP needs to make its presence known in rural communities as soon as possible if there is any hope of making gains outside urban areas in the next provincial election, according to three former candidates.

The NDP won 38 seats on May 29 but only Banff-Kananaskis could be considered a rural riding. The UCP, which won a second term in power, continue to have a stranglehold on rural areas. 

Candidates who ran for the NDP say the party needs to start the work now if it wants to start electing rural MLAs. 

"This party needs to build its rural constituency associations and not wait for them to build themselves," said Kevin van Tighem, who ran for the NDP in Livingstone-Macleod, in last month's election. 

"Empower them, motivate them to get out there and create that NDP presence in rural Alberta."

The NDP viewed Van Tighem, Taneen Rudyk (Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville) and Karen Shaw (Morinville-St. Albert) as some of their star candidates because of their high profiles. 

Rudyk is a four-term councillor in Vegreville and a former president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. Van Tighem is a former superintendent of Banff National Park and an author. Shaw is a cattle rancher and a former four-term councillor in Sturgeon County. 

Having their names on the ballot was a big step for the NDP, which struggled until recently to get local people to run for the party. 

While Shaw, Rudyk and Van Tighem made gains for the NDP, they were defeated by their UCP opponents. Shaw came closest to winning on May 29 with 45 per cent of the vote. 

In her first appearance after the election, NDP leader Rachel Notley said the party would spend the next few months evaluating the campaign. She acknowledged that the NDP needs to spend more time in rural areas. 

"For about a year and a half, two years, because of COVID, the kind of outreach that we would have done on those issues was a bit late," Notley said. 

Winning government by only electing MLAs in urban areas is not impossible, but also not desirable for the party. 

Van Tighem said making inroads into rural ridings will take considerable effort by the party over the long-term. 

"Is Livingstone-Macleod incurably conservative? No," he said. "But is it going to change in a hurry? No."