Albertans to elect senators-in-waiting Monday

There are 13 candidates standing for election as Alberta’s next potential senator.

Alberta is the only province that allows voters to express their preference for who they would like the prime minister to name to the Senate. Three “senators-in-waiting” will be elected on April 23.

The next vacancy for an Alberta senator is expected to be created when Sen. Bert Brown retires. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said he will choose from the pool of three senators-in-waiting elected by Albertans.

Neither the Liberals nor the NDP are running candidates. Some have questioned the value of the $3-million election, given that no other province elects senators and the constitutional changes necessary to change the Senate’s powers and structure have not been made, nor are they likely in the near future.

There are three PCs, three Wildrose, one EverGreen and six independents::

Doug Black (PC) - Calgary - dougblack.ca

Len Bracko (Ind) - St. Albert - www.lenbracko.ca

Perry Chahal (Ind) - Edmonton

William Exelby (Ind) - Edmonton

David Fletcher (Ind) - Edmonton

Paul Frank (Ind) - Calgary - www.votepaulfrank.ca

Raymond Germain (Wildrose) - Calgary - raymondgermain.ca

Rob Gregory (Wildrose) - Calgary - robgregory.ca

Elizabeth Johannson (EverGreen) - Edmonton - johannson.net

Vitor Marciano (Wildrose) - Calgary - vitormarciano.ca

Mike Shaikh (PC) - Calgary - www.mikeforsenate.ca

Scott Tannas (PC) - Calgary - scotttannas.com

Ian Urquhart (Ind) - Edmonton - ianforsenate.ca

Here is Global Edmonton's look at the senate election earlier in the campaign.




And here's Global Calgary's story.