Alberta is divided into 87 ridings, each with their own history, issues, and slate of candidates. But some races are expected to be more heated than others, and come election day will be closely watched political battlegrounds. As the clock ticks down to election day on April 16, we bring you our picks for ridings to watch.

CALGARY—More than a year after being ousted from the United Conservative Party (UCP) caucus after a series of legal issues, Derek Fildebrandt will need to best one of the party’s best-known MLAs to retain a seat in the legislature.

Chestermere-Strathmore is a new riding in this year’s election, formed in 2017. Located east of Calgary, the district combines parts of the former Strathmore-Brooks and Chestermere-Rocky View ridings, pitting the MLAs of those two constituencies against one another: Fildebrandt and UCP deputy leader Leela Aheer.

The decision facing voters in this riding reminds Fildebrandt of the divide between the two Alberta conservative parties that merged to form the UCP.

Fildebrandt leads the new Freedom Conservative Party (FCP), formed last summer, into this year’s election and calls it the “son” of the old Wildrose Party. He also calls the UCP the “son” of the Progressive Conservatives. This is his main argument to set his new party, and himself, apart from the UCP, promising a stronger commitment to the grassroots conservatism that the Wildrose Party also favoured.

The FCP leader said he was close to leaving politics last year, but felt compelled to run in 2019 because of his belief that UCP supporters in Chestermere-Strathmore weren’t given a chance to decide on that party’s candidate in the riding in a proper nomination contest. Fildebrandt also refused to run to represent any riding other than Strathmore.

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Fildebrandt said he has become increasingly concerned with the controversies that have followed the UCP about resignations within the party and nominees made by appointment. He said his party’s commitment to grassroots conservatism is especially important for people in small-town and rural ridings like Chestermere-Strathmore.

“If you’re in Calgary or Edmonton, (nomination contests are) very important,” Fildebrandt said. “But even if your MLA is not properly representing you democratically and they’re appointed, there’s still 20-odd other MLAs who can carry a lot of your interests forward.

“In a constituency like Chestermere-Strathmore, there’s no one else who can carry that water. It’s going to be your MLA, and if you can’t pick who it is, that really matters.”

Aheer said she has fielded questions from people in her riding about her nomination contest, but called any claims about her being appointed or parachuted in nonsense. Instead, she said other potential candidates running to represent Chestermere-Strathmore for the UCP didn’t submit their applications in time.

The UCP deputy leader also said that from the town halls she has held in her riding and conversations with constituents, she believes there was a huge push for unity within Alberta’s conservative movement, which led to her party.

“The UCP formed from wanting to bring those parties together and it was a decision of the people,” Aheer said.

Fildebrandt enters this campaign without the UCP brand behind him, but is still a well-known — though controversial — political figure.

He won his seat in 2015 with nearly double the amount of votes than the runner-up. But in the last four years, he has been criticized for actions like illegally killing a deer on private property, and renting out his taxpayer-subsidized Edmonton condo on Airbnb.

Mount Royal University political scientist Duane Bratt said he’s doubtful about Fildebrandt’s ability to win this seat without the better-organized and well-known party machine of the UCP behind him. Bratt also expressed doubt about how much voters will sympathize with Fildebrandt’s concerns around the UCP’s grassroots guarantee and nomination contests.

“It may have an impact on party volunteers, who may feel disgruntled, stay home, and not help out the candidates,” Bratt said.

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“But I don’t think voters are going down that list with that type of knowledge.”

Bratt praised Aheer as a strong, high-profile candidate. The UCP MLA won the Chestermere-Rocky View riding for the Wildrose Party in 2015 by a slim margin of just a little more than 200 votes.

But she has taken on major roles as an MLA since then — first as the Wildrose Party’s energy critic, and now as the UCP’s deputy leader. Bratt said he expects she’ll be part of leader Jason Kenney’s cabinet if the United Conservatives form government.

“If you were to name 30 UCP MLAs, she would be in the top five or six,” Bratt said.

Aheer and Fildebrandt face challenges in the riding from the NDP’s Melissa Langmaid, and Liberal Sharon Howe. But Fildebrandt said he’s doubtful about their chances against the two conservative parties.

“My constituency was one of the strongest Wildrose ridings in all of Alberta (in 2015), and I was surrounded only by constituencies that also voted Wildrose,” Fildebrandt said.

“You could gerrymander Strathmore-Brooks into an octopus shape and it still can’t vote NDP under any circumstances.”

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