Westlock County councillor Maureen Kubinec secured the Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock Progressive Conservative nomination Saturday night, taking the reins from retiring MLA Ken Kowalski.
Kubinec, who also served as a school trustee before being elected to county council, was thrilled with her victory and said exciting things were happening in the province.
"This is an exciting time for the PC party, with a new premier, Alison Redford, and with many new MLAs about to be elected this spring. Albertans can expect good things to happen in our already very blessed province," she said.
She thanked her fellow candidates, her family and friends, as well as many young campaign volunteers, who she said were integral to her success.
"One of my goals is to get that youth involvement and these young people showed me that they are committed, that they want to be part of the process."
Kowalski was not on hand Saturday, but said Monday that all of the candidates vying to replace him would have been good choices.
"All five are really good people, they really, really are and I don't say that lightly."
He said Kubinec would definitely serve the party and the riding well, because of her lengthy involvement in the community as a trustee and councillor along with several charitable groups.
"I am delighted that Maureen is the candidate, she is extremely well experienced."
A total of 1,233 votes were cast, and Kubinec secured victory on the fourth count with 561 votes, which was more than 50 per cent of votes after other candidates were removed.
The process involved a preferential ballot with one candidate after another being dropped and having their second choices redistributed. Kubinec lead throughout the process picking up more votes as first Westlock County councillor Bert Seatter, who had 92 votes after the first ballot, was dropped. Morinville Mayor Lloyd Berthschi was next to fall with 185 votes on the second ballot and then Westlock town councillor David Truckey was eliminated with 288 votes on the third count.
The final ballot came down to Kubinec and Tim Schultz, who currently works for Spruce Grove-Sturgeon-St. Albert MLA Doug Horner, but Schultz was well back with 412 votes to Kubinec's 561.
Big shoes
Kowalski surprised many when he decided not to run in December, after having served the area for more than three decades. Kubinec acknowledged stepping into his shoes will be a challenge, but she said she will give all she can to the role.
"He did such great service for this constituency and I can't say I am going to do the same things that Ken did. I am just going to do my very best job."
Bertschi was disappointed with the outcome, but pledged to support Kubinec in the race ahead. He said with three candidates from the Westlock area, he felt he was facing an uphill battle.
"With three of them running, myself I had to outsell three-to-one virtually in Morinville and we came up a little short of our goal in membership sales."
He said the nomination process was an important step toward setting the party up for victory in the next provincial election, which will come this spring.
"There is no doubt, because this constituency does need a bit of a rebuild," he said. "We have had the same MLA for 30 years and as you heard we have never had to have a nomination meeting before. That is how you continue to build your party and I think this is a good process toward doing that."
Schultz was gracious in defeat and said Kubinec ran aggressively for the position and deserved the victory.
"Maureen deserves the win. She ran a better campaign."
Schultz said he expected connecting in Westlock was an issue for him, but now he is looking ahead to the campaign and is ready to help.
"I offered that up again to Maureen, so if she needs my help, I will step in."
Seatter agreed the race was good for the party and set it up well for the spring election.
"It really has raised the profile of the Conservative party in this area," he said. "Come the provincial election, we should be very successful."
Truckey said, while it was not the outcome he was hoping for, the party will be well served.
"I am very excited for Maureen to win," he said. "I fully support her and I hope she will go on to be the next MLA for Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock."
Kowalski agreed the party could use a refresher in his riding and he believes the race was important for that.
"There is need here for generational change, there is need for a different group of people."
