In a sure sign that a federal election is around the corner, parties in Battlefords-Lloydminster are already busy lining up candidates to run.
There is widespread speculation Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will dissolve the minority Parliament and call an election for this fall. Election preparations are already underway, with three candidates already confirmed to be running in Battlefords-Lloydminster.
The incumbent Conservative Member of Parliament, Rosemarie Falk, is set to run for a third term in the House of Commons after first winning a byelection in 2017. In the 2019 election, Falk won with 79 per cent of the vote.
Falk, who is Shadow Minister for Seniors for the Conservatives, recently wrapped up a sitting of the House, which broke for the summer in late June.
Meanwhile, the governing Liberals have confirmed on their website that Larry Ingram will again be the party’s nominee in Battlefords-Lloydminster.
This will be the fourth straight federal vote (including the 2017 byelection) for which Ingram will be on the ballot.
The new Maverick Party, which advocates for a new deal for the West, has announced on their website their nominee in the riding. He is Ken Rutherford, who lives just northeast of Lloydminster.
Rutherford runs a real estate appraisal firm and instructs business courses at Lakeland College, and holds a bachelor’s degree and MBA from the University of Alberta.
Battlefords-Lloydminster is a target seat for the Maverick Party, who set up an electoral district association and held several informational meetings in the riding earlier this year. The party plans to hold its founding convention Aug. 7.
At this point, while there are declared candidates running for Parliament, none have officially filed papers to run in Battlefords-Lloydminster, as an election has not yet been called.
Candidates for the New Democratic Party, the Green Party and the People’s Party in Battlefords-Lloydminster are not yet known. All three of those parties fielded candidates in 2019.
