The Alberta Party has nominated their candidate to run against UCP MLA Angela Pitt in next spring's Alberta election.  

28-year-old Alex Luterbach is an Early Childhood Educator who holds a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology.  In September 2014, she and her wife started a pre-school in the city.  It grew from six families to more than 80 in the space of two years even though they were working during the recession in Alberta.  The pair welcomed the birth of their son on September 20th of this year.   It was his birth that, in part, prompted Luterbach to get involved in politics.

"I see our political landscape right now as very divisive.  We have a government that is very much so focused, I think, on saying, 'we're not doing this or we're not that' rather than standing up and saying, 'this is what we stand for, we're going to better Albertans lives in this way,' and I think that's part of why I wanted to get involved.  But also I believe that we're a province that has the ability to take care of our neighbours today without putting that huge debt burden on our children for tomorrow."

She chose to run for the Alberta Party because of words she heard from former Leader Greg Clark who said, "A good idea is a good idea, regardless of if it comes from the left or the right.  "When you look at something that he started advocating for in early November which is the curtailment of oil production, then the UCP jumped on board and started calling for it as well, which we appreciated.  That's an idea that came from the left wing of the spectrum, but in the economic climate we're in now we need ideas that aren't beholding to one wing because we're faced with very complex problems."

As for the Airdrie East riding, Luterbach would like to see more support for people going through health issues, those who need end of life care, and people struggling with domestic abuse.

"I do believe that having one Urgent Care Centre in Airdrie forces a lot of people to have to go to Calgary.  I'd like to see our city have funding that allows us to have services here.  I don't think it's right that we're having to send people to Calgary for hospice, for emergencies, for women's shelters.  Those kind of social supports need to be in our city.  When someone's experiencing a trauma in their life they should have the ability to stay within their community, in their support network, and not have to waste that time travelling into the city."

When it comes to current Airdrie East MLA Angela Pitt, Luterbach says she doesn't want to address her performance.  "I don't want to run a campaign that's disparaging what people are doing.  I want to run a campaign talking about what I see the future of Airdrie looking like."

Luterbach says her campaign, which will focus on door knocking and public events, has already started.  She's met with Airdrie City Council and today (December 8) will be at a Christmas Fair at Horizon Mall before doing some door knocking.

Alberta Premier Rachel Notley has confirmed that the Alberta election will be held sometime in the spring, between March and May. 

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