Calgary-Greenway byelection to replace Manmeet Bhullar full of issues, lacking voters
Bryan Labby | CBC News | Posted: March 19, 2016 6:29 PM | Last Updated: March 22, 2016
It's been a PC stronghold in northeast Calgary for years, now eight candidates are vying for the seat
The byelection in Calgary-Greenway has grabbed a few headlines, but perhaps the biggest is the debate over who lives where.
Liberal Khalil Karbani, who's facing off against seven other contenders in this suburban and ethnically diverse riding along the city's northeastern edge, thinks candidates should live in the area.
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"I live and breathe this riding," says Karbani. "I know what's happening in this riding, this community. They live outside this riding and claim to know what's going on," he said of most of his opponents.
Karbani would like to make it illegal for people to run in ridings in which they don't live.
According to Elections Alberta, Prab Gill with the PCs, Devinder Toor of the Wildrose and Roop Rai of the NDP do not live in the riding, which includes the communities of Taradale, Coral Springs, Monterey Park, Abbeydale and Applewood.
Karbani and two independent candidates, Abdulbaki Said Hussein and Sukhi Rai, are the only political hopefuls who live in the riding held by the late Manmeet Bhullar.
Voter turnout
The candidates have just one day to figure out how to motivate the 28,298 registered voters who call Calgary-Greenway home.
The campaign hasn't exactly sparked a voter frenzy, with a paltry 2,397 people casting ballots in the advance polls.
Karbani was one of the first to vote on day one of the advance poll, and didn't miss the opportunity to score a few political points minutes after he marked an 'X' by his name, pointing out many of his opponents can't do the same.
Roop Rai, the NDP candidate in Greenway, defends her decision to run in a riding outside her northwest community of Panorama Hills.
The former radio host and producer says she's been spending 14 hours a day meeting with voters in the area and is aware of the issues facing the diverse communities.
Wildrose shoots down wage allegations
The Wildrose's Toor has had to fight another issue altogether, fending off allegations he posted an ad for a job at one of his five liquor stores that pays less than Alberta's $11.20 minimum wage.
The NDP campaign posted the ad and linked it to the candidate who finished third in last year's general election. They accused him of "breaking the law" by offering to pay employees $10 an hour.
"We did our research, our due diligence, and we just released that information only because we wanted to raise awareness," said Rai. The NDP claim the ad was posted on February 21, 2016.
Toor counters it was actually February 21, 2014 — when Alberta's minimum wage was $9.95.
"Somebody doctored it and put it in February 21, 2016. I have no involvement in this. This is just a part of the other parties bringing a distraction to the campaign," Toor told CBC News at his campaign office.
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There was also an ill-timed deadline for Toor to pay a fine for selling mini-bottles of Wiser's spiced whiskey at one of his liquor stores. The 50ml bottles were labelled not for re-sale, but Toor's store, Payless Liquor on Falconridge Dr. N.E., had them stocked on a shelf behind the cash register with a sign that read "$2.99".
In the AGLC report, the liquor commission ruled there was a clear violation of the Retail Liquor Store Handbook and "Mr. T. [Toor] should have noticed these bottles on the shelf and dealt with them immediately and/or his staff should have noticed them and brought them to his attention."
Toor was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine, which he did on March 16, right in the middle of what's been described as a tight race.
PC stronghold? Not so fast
University of Calgary political scientist Melanee Thomas said given the popularity of Bhullar and the propensity to vote for the PCs in the riding, the once-mighty party should hold on to the seat.
But there's one factor that can't be ignored. "Alberta politics appear to be in some kind of re-alignment now," said Thomas. She said there's some real substance to the change we saw in the last provincial election.
A recent survey by Mainstreet Research, which shows a tight four-way race, reflects that.
"If I were the NDP and I was looking at polling a close second at this point, I would be thrilled with that result in this riding," said Thomas.
'He wasn't a nine-to-five guy'
Tarjinder Bhullar, Manmeet Bhullar's older sister, spoke publicly with CBC News for the first time since her brother's state funeral.
She considered running for the PCs in the byelection, but decided against it, and said it's been hard adjusting to life without her "little" brother.
"Every day there's something, multiple times during the day that remind you of him and what he would be doing, what we would be doing together," said Tarjinder during an emotional interview in Bhullar's former office.
"You move from one minute, to one hour, to one day at a time."
She said the next MLA for Calgary-Greenway will have to work hard to match the contribution her brother made to people in the riding and the province.
"He listened to their concerns, he came up with solutions, he wasn't a nine-to-five guy, he was there when they needed him."
There are a total of eight candidates running: Khalil Karbani (Liberal), Roop Rai (NDP), Thana Boonlert (Green), Prab Gill (Progressive Conservative), Devinder Toor (Wildrose) and independents Said Hussein Abdulbaki, Larry Heather and Sukhi Rai.
Advance polls end on Saturday at 8 p.m. Regular voting takes place between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m. on Tuesday, March 22.