Former schoolteacher and longtime Rocky Mountain House school principal Jimmy Clark, 56, is challenging Ty Lund for the Progressive Conservative nomination in the Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre constituency.
Lund, 73, the sixth-term MLA for the riding, announced last week that he is seeking the nomination.
“I believe I could bring a perspective to the riding that is fresh, that is energetic, and that is committed to furthering the opportunities for people in this riding,” Clark said in an interview Friday.
“I believe the ideas that I would bring forward would demonstrate my past history, including a huge amount of interaction with youth.”
Although Clark calls Lund a “mentor of mine”, he said, “I think what separates Ty and myself at this junction are our experiences. Mine have been with a vast number of youth and that certainly is a distinction between the two of us.
“It's time to offer the voters a new and viable choice in the upcoming nomination process.”
Clark is the past president (for 11 years) of the PC riding association, something he says gives him valuable experience in the political arena.
“This has given me an opportunity to attend a vast number of political forums and workshops, giving me insight about how that process unfolds.”
Born in Germany, Clark is a past member of the Victoria-based Canadian Scottish Regiment.
He says if he wins the PC nomination he looks forward to facing the challenge posed by the party's candidates.
“I would be hard pressed not to imagine that the Wildrose won't make some inroads (during the next election),” he said. “I think that after this reign that the PCs have enjoyed over the past 40 years, we are going to have a real opposition and I think that will ultimately hold people's feet to the fire and that will be good for the province of Alberta. I am ready for that challenge.”
