Tuesday's election of local businessman Stephen Khan to represent St. Albert Progressive Conservatives in the upcoming provincial election gives the party a strong, young candidate who will be good for the party and the community, says outgoing MLA Ken Allred.
Khan won the PC nomination Tuesday night, besting Catholic school trustee Jacquie Hansen and former Canadian Forces helicopter pilot Jeff Wedman.
With an election possibly just weeks away, Khan thanked his competitors for their hard work and challenged the 50 or so party members in attendance to get ready for the next campaign.
"This isn't about Steve Khan. This is about the PC constituency of St. Albert and moving forward and having success together," he said.
Party officials declined to release a breakdown of the votes, but estimated about 1,000 ballots were cast. That number is up substantially from 2007 when 520 votes were cast and Ken Allred won the nomination over former mayor Paul Chalifoux.
Allred, who served one term as St. Albert MLA and is now retiring from politics, said the outcome was not a big surprise.
"I thought it would be a lot closer, certainly judging from the forum I thought they all did equally well," he said. "I think all three of them were pretty good."
He said Khan is well known in the community through his family and business, as well as several community groups and he believes that helped his victory.
"He really has a lot of contacts, but it is all about organization — that is what really pays off, making the contacts and making sure they get out to vote," said Allred.
Now Khan has to make the adjustment from businessman to politician in time for this spring's provincial election.
"It will take some adaptation of course," said Allred. "It is a big adjustment and quite a steep learning curve, but I think he will adapt very well."
Khan credited a strong team of family and friends with helping him to victory.
"It was my team; a very, very smart, very committed team and living in St. Albert for 40 years and being part of this wonderful community certainly didn't hurt," he said.
Khan said he hoped to be able to use the excitement created during the nomination process as a springboard for the coming election.
"We need to prepare for the upcoming election," he said. "I believe that we created a real positive sense of momentum with this leadership nomination."
Khan said both Wedman and Hansen would have made good candidates for the party and the campaign was run cleanly and without issue.
"I have nothing but respect for them and the efforts that they put forth," he said.
Gracious in defeat
Hansen echoed those comments and said the nomination contest shows their excitement about the Progressive Conservative party in Alberta.
"I am so impressed by the numbers of people that came out here tonight, because I think it is really good news for the PC party," she said.
Hansen credited Premier Alison Redford with some of that momentum and said she was seeing new people become interested in the party.
"We are seeing in Alison Redford a shift where people are more apt to see what this party is about and it is very apparent in all the nominations," she said.
Wedman was also magnanimous in defeat and said he saw positive signs for the ruling Conservatives in the coming election.
"It is good for the party all around and it bodes well for the party come this spring," he said.
Wedman said both of his opponents ran principled, honest races and he was happy to be a part of the work.
"It was an exceptionally clean and well-run campaign and that is the most important lesson I would take out of this. We are all one family at the end of the day," he said.
Allred announced his intention not to run in December but several of the candidates announced their intentions before he made his retirement plans public.
The race originally drew six candidates, but three of the candidates — vice principal Sleight Anstruther, local realtor Mark Cassidy and 150th anniversary committee volunteer Kent La Rose — failed to file their nomination papers.
Under new election rules passed late last year, Redford must call a provincial general election so a vote takes place sometime between March 1 and May 31.
In the St. Albert constituency, the Wildrose party has nominated former city councillor James Burrows, the Alberta Party will run businessman Tim Osborne and the NDP will be running Nicole Bowes. The Alberta Liberals haven't yet announced a candidate.
