Although cutting it close to the nomination deadline the federal Liberal Party has turned to Edmonton to find a candidate for the Red Deer riding for the upcoming election.
Andrew Lineker, an Edmonton resident, will be stepping into the Central Alberta riding to represent the Liberal Party in the race for the local MP seat. Liberal Party officials made the announcement April 11, the final day allowed for party nominations, and more than two weeks after the election was called on March 26.
This is not Lineker’s first time running for office as he recently ran for the mayoralty position in last fall’s municipal election in Edmonton. He received just over 1,100 votes making up just under 0.6 per cent of the votes cast.
The 33-year-old has worked in public relations and administration for a number of different entertainment facilities in the past. He has also worked for a number of federal campaigns including Chris Pearce, Judy Bethel, and Anne McLellan.
Repeated phone calls to Lineker for comment were not immediately returned.
Daryl Fridhandler, Liberal campaign manager for southern Alberta, said that although Lineker is from outside the riding he is willing to spend a lot of time getting to know the riding and the people.
“I expect he will get to know it well. If elected he will represent the people well,” said Fridhandler.
The need to bring in a candidate from another part of the province was partly due to a resource issue, said Fridhandler.
“From an operational view we (Liberal Party) have to get more in touch with the local people.”
Fridhandler also said in the future they will need to work more with the people on the ground in the riding and that it would have been nice to be more “robust” in getting a local candidate.
Meanwhile, Conservative electoral candidate and incumbent Earl Dreeshen filed his nomination papers last week and said he is proud to be running again and carrying the Conservative flag.
“I am committed to my constituency and have always felt that the constituents come first. We have been working on a number of justice issues that are important to the people in this area,” said Dreeshen.
While Dreeshen said it will be interesting to see who makes up the new government after the election he believes the election is an unnecessary one.
“What happened is we were not supported in our budget,” said Dreeshen.
“I am looking at the job we have done to recover the economy and we have proved we have the ability (to lead).”
Dreeshen has set up a campaign office in Red Deer at 103-2810 Bremner Avenue.
The other candidates in the Red Deer riding are Stuart Somerville who will be running for the NDP and Ashkan Hamzehi who will be running for the Green Party.
