SUNDRE - Tim Hoven says he is seeking election in the Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre riding as an independent because he believes incumbent MLA Jason Nixon cannot properly represent area constituents.
His comments come a week after Nixon called Hoven a “disgruntled candidate” who is “focused on his own ego and his own ambitions” in an Albertan interview.
Last year Hoven was prohibited by the UCP from seeking the party nomination in the riding.
“We have been working with so many people in the area for over a year and there are so many people who have told me that they cannot vote for the UCP under Mr. Nixon,” said Hoven.
“People went for years not having phone calls and emails returned in this riding and it caused a lot of distrust. People are looking for a new direction under that conservative banner and that’s the option I want to give people.”
In the March 16 Albertan interview Nixon said Hoven “should focus on the fact that he could not even run for the party, rather than trying to defeat Danielle Smith and the UCP inside Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre.”
Hoven replied, “I respectfully disagree with Mr. Nixon’s viewpoint there. I’m a card-carrying member of the UCP. I agree with many of the policies she (Smith) is bringing forward and I think she is a positive turn for the party after what the party did under Mr. Kenney.”
On March 12, Hoven announced his intention to run as an independent in the riding. He will become an official candidate when he files papers after the writ drops.
In March 2022, the UCP prohibited Hoven from seeking the party nomination in the riding.
At the time the party informed Hoven – an Eckville-area farmer and former Clearwater County reeve – that he was being barred from seeking the nomination because he had followed a website platform linked to white nationalists and that he allegedly disparaged the RCMP.
Hoven denies both claims and maintains that he should have been given a chance to seek the party nomination.
Should he win the election, Hoven says, “I would definitely be looking to work with the UCP. Ultimately the decision on whether or not I would be allowed to join the UCP after the election is going to be in the caucus’s hands, not mine.”
Hoven said while he has been involved with the Take Back Alberta advocacy group in the past, his campaign is not tied to the organization in any way.
“This candidacy is not a Take Back Alberta supported candidacy. This is a member in this constituency wanting proper representation,” he said.
