All major parties but one have nominated candidates to run for the Foothills seat in the upcoming federal election on April 28.
The New Democratic Party (NDP) is expected to nominate a Foothills candidate in the coming days, while the Conservatives, Liberals, Greens and People's Party of Canada (PPC) have already nominated candidates ahead of the 45th Canadian federal election.
Conservative incumbent John Barlow is running for the seat he has held since winning a 2014 byelection when the riding was called Macleod, before it was renamed Foothills in the 2015 election. Polls indicate that Barlow currently has higher than a 99 per cent chance of winning re-election.
John Bruinsma, a political newcomer, was acclaimed as the Liberal Party's candidate for Foothills on Feb. 20, over a month before Prime Minister Mark Carney's March 23 election announcement. Bruinsma lives in Crowsnest Pass and is a retired engineering technologist with a background in industrial automation and controls.
PPC candidate Paul O'Halloran, whose candidacy was announced on March 20, replaced Diego Machado, who was initially the party's candidate but decided against running, according to a social media announcement on Feb. 20. A Diamond Valley resident, O'Halloran has been a member of the People's Party since its inception in 2018.
Green Party nominee Emma Hoberg, born and raised in Okotoks, currently serves as the party's western organizer and is working on campaigns across Western Canada alongside her own in Foothills.
The NDP has yet to nominate a candidate but is expected to run a full slate of candidates across Canada, including for Foothills, ahead of the nomination deadline of April 7 at 2 p.m.
The Maverick Party, which nominated a Foothills candidate in the 2021 federal election and won 3.6 per cent of the vote, was deregistered by Elections Canada as a recognized party and is not running any candidates.
Stretching from Foothills County to the Canada-U.S. border, the Foothills electoral district is home to over 100,000 residents, with a total of 64,467 ballots cast in the 2021 federal election.
