The race is on.
Five candidates have been confirmed to be running in Foothills in the April 28 federal election, with a finalized list published by Elections Canada on April 9.
Conservative incumbent John Barlow is running for the seat he has held since winning a 2014 byelection when the riding was called Macleod, before it was renamed Foothills in 2015. Polls indicate that Barlow currently has higher than a 99 per cent chance of winning re-election.
John Bruinsma, a political newcomer, was acclaimed as the Liberal candidate for Foothills on Feb. 20, over a month before Prime Minister Mark Carney's March 23 election announcement. Bruinsma lives in Crowsnest Pass and is a retired engineering technologist with a background in industrial automation and controls.
People's Party of Canada candidate Paul O'Halloran, whose candidacy was announced on March 20, replaced Diego Machado, who was initially the party's candidate but decided against running, according to a social media announcement on Feb. 20. A Diamond Valley resident, O'Halloran has been a member of the People's Party since its inception in 2018.
Emma Hoberg, born and raised in Okotoks, currently serves as the Green Party's western organizer and is working on campaigns across Western Canada alongside her own in Foothills.
New Democrat Kaitte Aurora is a Lethbridge-based activist and community leader with a background in space systems engineering.
Unlike the previous election, no other parties have thrown their hats in the ring. The Maverick Party, which nominated a Foothills candidate in the 2021 federal election and won 3.6 per cent of the vote, was deregistered by Elections Canada as a recognized party and is not running any candidates.
Stretching from Foothills County to the Canada-U.S. border, the Foothills electoral district is home to 114,930 residents according to 2021 census data, with a total of 64,467 ballots cast in the 2021 federal election.
The Conservatives, Liberals and New Democratic Party have nominated a full slate of candidates across the nation's 343 ridings.
Advance polling stations are open from April 18 to 21.
