While many current United Conservative Party caucus members are receiving a free pass into running in the next provincial election, the same can't be said for current Airdrie MLA Angela Pitt.  

Pitts is receiving some stiff opposition by the name of former Calgary Flames broadcaster Roger Millions, who has announced he's retiring from his hockey broadcasting career and intends to seek the nomination in the new, split Airdrie riding.

When the ridings were redrawn, Airdrie was divided into Airdrie-Cochrane and Airdrie East.  Pitt and Millions are seeking the UCP nomination in Airdrie East.  

Pitt said she doesn't mind a little competition.  "I always welcome competition, I mean democracy is a good thing.  I hope that the members of the United Conservative Party in Airdrie East have seen an appreciate the work that I've done for the past couple of years."

Pitt feels that her nomination campaign is going well.  She said she sold many party memberships prior to the deadline of Wednesday, June 6th and has spent much of her time getting to know the new members of the riding.  

"Of course there's a new part of this riding, people in Keoma, Kathyrn and Delacour that didn't previously exist in the Airdrie riding that I'm getting to meet and know what some of their needs and challenges are.  It's been great."

Pitt has received endorsements from many of her UCP caucus colleagues including Mike Ellis from Calgary - West, Nathan Cooper from Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills, Jason Nixon of Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House- Sundre and the only other female member of the caucus, Leela Aheer of Chestermere-Rocky View who is the UCP's Deputy Leader.  

While many currently in the UCP caucus have been acclaimed for the nominations, including party leader Jason Kenney, Cooper, Ellis, and Nixon, others are being challenged including Aheer, Wayne Anderson in the Highwood riding, Rick Strankman in Drumheller-Stettler and Ron Orr in Lacombe-Ponoka.

Pitt said there are a couple of things which will make her invaluable to the UCP if they become the next government in Alberta.  One is helping with the learning curve.

"There are only 20 incumbent UCP MLAs running and if we were to have the honour of forming a government in the next election we're going to have a whole ton of brand new MLAs that are going to take quite a bit of time to try to figure out how to learn the ropes.  When you first get elected it is like drinking from a firehose.  We need experienced MLAs after the election in 2019 so we can hit the ground running and try to undo the damage of the NDP."

The other is her commitment and connection to the people of Airdrie. 

"I've lived in Airdrie my whole life.  I have a family here, my husband and I are raising our two young children.   My parents live here, my sister lives here, I've got a lot of connections to this community.  I've seen it grow from 10,000 people where there were tobogganing hills everywhere to where there's lots of houses, less tobogganing hills and multiple Tim Horton's.  This is a community I've run a business in so I know what some of the challenges and struggles are as a business owner in this community.  I know the movers and the shakers and community organizations and the charities that make Airdrie what it is."

The Airdrie East nomination vote goes Wednesday, June 20th from 11:00 am to 8:00 pm at the Town and Country Centre in Airdrie.  Only members in good standing who joined the United Conservative Party at least two weeks prior to the date of the nomination are eligible to vote. 

 

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