Calgary in the spotlight as Albertans head to the polls
All of the campaigning and political posturing has led to this.
Alberta electors who have yet to cast their ballots will head to the polls on Monday following a gruelling and contentious campaign trail from both the United Conservative Party and the Alberta NDP.
A record number of voters have already decided, with 758,550 advance votes cast in the week leading up to election day.
That surpassed the record set back in 2019 when 700,476 voters showed up to the polls early.
As has been the case since the first day of campaigning, there is a lot of attention on Calgary and its 26 electoral divisions.
Before the election was called, the UCP held 23 of those seats.
Rachel Notley and the Alberta NDP will likely need to flip that number around and win the majority of Calgary to form government.
RIDINGS TO WATCH
The Calgary-Elbow electoral division is one that political watchers are keeping a keen eye on.
The UCP won that seat in 2019, with Doug Schweitzer serving as the MLA before resigning last summer. Since then, the riding has remained vacant.
Calgary-Elbow candidates include Chris Davis with the UCP, Samir Kayande for the Alberta NDP, Kerry Cundal representing the Alberta Party and Solidarity Movement of Alberta Party leader Artur Pawlowski.
In 2015, the then-leader of the Alberta Party, Greg Clark, was elected as the MLA for Calgary-Elbow. That is the last time the party has won a seat, despite some strong support for Clark and the party in 2019.
This time around, it's Cundal who will be looking to play spoiler to the NDP and UCP to snatch up what is likely the only seat the Alberta Party has a chance of winning.
Calgary-Varsity is another electoral division that could go either way between the NDP and UCP.
Jason Copping won that seat in the last election, but only by a margin of 638 votes.
In 2015, the area voted in NDP candidate Stephanie McLean after the Progressive Conservatives and the Wildrose Party split the conservative vote, which was essentially the story of the 2015 election.
This time around, the candidates are Luanne Metz with the NDP and Jason Copping for the UCP.
Calgary-Acadia is another seat that flipped from NDP to UCP in the last election.
Tyler Shandro won the seat for the UCP in 2019 and will be looking to defend his position against four other candidates.
Diana Batten is representing the NDP, Paul Bechthold is the candidate for the Green Party of Alberta, Larry Heather is running as an independent, Linda McClelland is for the Solidarity Movement, and Donna Kathleen Scott is with the Wildrose Loyalty Coalition.
Unlike in advance voting, electors must vote at their designated voting location between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m.
More information on where to vote and which candidates are running in each electoral division can be found here.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'My family doctor just fired me': Ontario patients frustrated with de-rostering
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
Canada Post cracks down on Nunavut loophole to get free Amazon Prime shipping
Amazon's paid subscription service provides free delivery for online shopping across Canada except for remote locations, the company said in an email. While customers in Iqaluit qualify for the offer, all other communities in Nunavut are excluded.
Millions of Canadians have been exposed to potentially toxic chemicals, and they're not going anywhere
For decades, North Bay, Ontario's water supply has harboured chemicals associated with liver and developmental issues, cancer and complications with pregnancy. It's far from the only city with that problem.
German men with the strongest fingers compete in Bavaria's 'Fingerhakeln' wrestling championship
Despite the threat of dislocated fingers and strained muscles, over 150 Bavarian men came together Sunday to compete in Germany’s unique national championship of “Fingerhakeln,” or finger wrestling.
Flash floods in northern Afghanistan sweep away livelihoods, leaving hundreds dead and missing
The UN food agency estimated that unusually heavy seasonal rains in Afghanistan have left more than 300 people dead and thousands of houses destroyed, most of them in the northern province of Baghlan, which bore the brunt of the deluges Friday.
Trucker's body found in trailer in Newfoundland after failed police search in Ontario
Ontario Provincial Police are facing tough questions about their search for a missing Newfoundland trucker whose rig was found two weeks ago in Ontario, then sent back to Newfoundland, where his body was found Monday in the trailer.
'It was violent': Police tear down U of A pro-Palestinian encampment Saturday morning
Multiple people at the protest camp torn down at the University of Alberta campus Saturday say police's actions against protesters were "violent" and "disproportionate."
Adopted daughter in the Netherlands reunited with sister in Montreal and mother in Colombia, 40 years later
Two daughters and a mother were reunited online 40 years later thanks to a DNA kit and a Zoom connection despite living on three separate continents and speaking different languages.
VIDEO Flavour? Heat? Pain? 'Heatseekers' share their keys to a great bottle of hot sauce
What do you look for in a good bottle of hot sauce? Sweet or smokey flavours? Or, perhaps, you're a 'glutton for punishment' — the words of one person in attendance at Windsor's 2nd annual Heatseeker Hot Sauce Festival.