Federal candidates lobby for votes ahead of July 24 Calgary Heritage byelection

An iconic south Calgary riding that has sat vacant since January will soon have its federal seat filled as voters hit the advance polls in Calgary-Heritage.

The riding was previously held by former prime minister Stephen Harper and most recently Conservative Bob Benzen. The first-time MP, who was elected to represent the area in 2017, announced in October 2022 that he would resign and return to private life.

The official byelection takes place on July 24, but decided voters can cast ballots in advance polls between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. on Sunday and Monday.

Details on where to go would be displayed on their voter information card.

Eight candidates are now battling for votes including Shuvaloy Majumdar, a long-time Conservative staffer who won the party’s nomination in March.

In a video posted to social media, he called out the Liberal Party’s “woke and broke” policies.

“From cancelling our history to censoring the Internet, our Conservative voters will now be the rock that breaks the Liberal wave of woke censorship.”

Majumdar added that he’s also an advocate for axing the federal carbon tax.

“The cost of living is out of control. From Trudeau’s inflationary deficits to his out-of-control tax hikes, we have all been forced to make hard choices in our household budgets and Trudeau won’t stop.”

Majumdar is a former policy advisor to Harper and former Conservative foreign minister John Baird. He currently works with Harper’s international consulting firm.

NDP CANDIDATE VOWS TO CREATE POSITIVE CHANGE 

Federal NDP Candidate for Calgary-Heritage Gurmit Bhachu says he's running in his home riding because he wants to create positive change in an area that he’s lived in for nearly 20 years.

The long-time elementary school teacher is on the executive committee for the Calgary Public Teachers’ Association Local 38 and has spent years volunteering with community and sports groups.

“A lot of working-class families are struggling right now and we know that there's CEOs making record profits as they always do and income inequality has been one of the one of the things that I have really tried to advocate trying to fix," he said.

Bhachu adds that improvements to public education rank amongst the highest on his priority list.

“Post-secondary education should be part of public education. Why is that not in the public education system?”

“I think that would benefit the whole country. More educated people and more equality because people who can can't normally access post-secondary would now be able to access it.”

LIBERALS AIM TO STEAL SEAT

Representing the federal Liberal Parry as a candidate for Calgary-Heritage is Elliot Weinstein, the owner and president of The Beach YYC, an indoor beach recreation facility.

He previously held the role of project manager at a global environment consulting firm called Golder Associates.

“We’ve been talking about the positive campaign that we're running, we want people to have something to vote ‘for’ and not just voting ‘against’ something so people really respect and enjoy that,” Weinstein told CTV News.

'STAND UP FOR THE WEST': MAVERICK PARTY

Maverick Party candidate for Calgary-Heritage, Dan Irving says his number one priority if elected to the House of Commons would be to ‘stand up for the west.’

We believe that our voices have been neglected in Ottawa and we want to make a change on that,” said Irving.

What Irving loves in particular about his party is that it operates in a ‘free vote’ system.

“There are so many times that Ontario or Quebec dictates to us and we don't have to call that and so with a Maverick Party one member can vote one way and another can vote another way and still be both Maverick members.”

Irving added that he supports transparency on the existing carbon tax, but without making a case that the federal carbon levy benefits Calgary-Heritage, he would not support it.

He also said that he wants MPs across Canada to ‘actually start listening’ to their constituents and he vows to do that if elected, adding he will only vote in favour of the federal carbon tax if Calgary-Heritage wants him to.

Other candidates running in the Calgary-Heritage byelection include Ravenmoon Crocker (Green Party), Larry Heather (Christian Heritage Party of Canada), Kelly Lorencz (People’s Party of Canada), and Donovan Eckstrom (no affiliation).