Alberta Party won't run candidate in Calgary-Greenway

Voters in Calgary-Greenway won't have the option to elect an Alberta Party member in the upcoming byelection. 

The party announced today it won't run a candidate in the riding, previously held by PC MLA Manmeet Bhullar, who died last year after a highway collision.

Last Friday, Alberta Party leader Greg Clark had said the party would only run a candidate if a "strong local" one could be found. But after "thorough consideration," the board voted against it. 

All other parties have selected their candidates for the election, which will take place on March 22. Roop Rai will represent the NDP and Devinder Toor will run for the Wildrose. Prabhdeep Gill was nominated for the PCs and Khalil Karbani is running for the Liberals. Thana Boonlert will run for the Green Party. 

• Roop Rai to represent Alberta NDP in Calgary-Greenway byelection
• ​Prabhdeep Gill gets nod from PCs for Calgary-Greenway byelection, again
• Wildrose picks candidate for Calgary-Greenway byelection
• ​Liberals name Khalil Karbani candidate for Calgary-Greenway byelection​

Clark said the byelection wouldn't be the best use of the party's resources ahead of the 2019 general election. 

"A byelection is a significant use of volunteer resources, financial resources," he said. "We did have great people step up and say they wanted to run for us."

The best way for the party to communicate its ideas and vision is in the legislature, Clark added.

"The byelection was called early by this government that is desperate to get it out of the way before a bad-news budget," he said.