Voters will go to the polls in Calgary-Centre next month.
 
Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Sunday morning that byelections will be held in Calgary, Victoria, and Durham, Ontario on November 26th.

Mount Royal University political scientist Keith Brownsey said the Tories shouldn’t have to worry too much in Calgary-Centre, but it’s a different story elsewhere.

“The Liberals and New Democrats will pour everything into Durham, they’ll try to knock of the Conservatives there,” he said. “In Victoria (the candidate) resigned because of health reasons, but it will probably stay New Democrat,” he said.

The vacancy in Calgary was left when Conservative Lee Richardson resigned to work for Premier Alison Redford.

Although it’s federal politics, Calgary’s mayor will be keeping a close eye on the Calgary-Centre byelection.

Naheed Nenshi said it’s an important time for the byelection to be called because the city is in discussions with Ottawa about infrastructure funding.

“I really hope that Calgarians take this byelection as an opportunity to push the parties hard on what their ideas are around the role of federal government in making our city run better and be really focused on Calgary issues” he said.

Nenshi adds although the PCs have had no problem getting elected, since it’s a byelection and the government is not going to change, voters may focus more on the candidate and not the party.

“The Conservatives have certainly nominated someone who self-identifies with one particular wing of the party and whether or not that wing of the party resonates with voters in Calgary-Centre will be very, very interesting,” he said.