The race for the Progressive Conservative Party nomination in Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills entered its final leg this week with candidates Darcy Davis, Al Kemmere and William Stevenson vying to replace retiring incumbent MLA Richard Marz for the next provincial election.The winning candidate will be chosen at the Didsbury Multiplex this Saturday ñ and it might not be decided after the first count.Under the party constitution, membership holders can cast votes for their first and second choices. If none of the candidates receives 50 per cent plus one after the first count, the second-choice votes for the third-place finisher will be added to the totals of the other two candidates to determine the winner.The nomination meeting runs from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m., with candidate presentations at 6:30 p.m. Constituency association president Dave Hogarth said the ballots from regional polls in Three Hills, Beiseker and Cremona will be counted with the Didsbury ballots after voting ends.ìIt closes at nine and I'm hoping that within an hour and a half they'll have the results,î Hogarth said.Campaigning last week between a live webcast on Central Alberta TV on Monday and a scheduled candidates forum in Three Hills on Saturday, the three candidates found time to sit down with the Gazette to outline some of their key positions and unique qualifications for the job.As he had in a previous interview, Stevenson, a Carstairs accountant with many years of service to the PC Party, separated himself from the other two candidates by virtue of his age ñ Stevenson is 40, Davis is 50 and Kemmere is 54 ñ and also by his educational and professional background.ìIf we want to have more say in Edmonton,î Stevenson bluntly asserted, ìwe have to have more than just a farmer.îDavis also drew attention to the ìthree different backgroundsî of the candidates, contrasting Kemmere's municipal experience and Stevenson's party work with his own involvement in the ìindustry association world,î which included a term as president of the Canadian Agri-food Trade Alliance.ìI learned a lot about democracy and two-way communication working with the Alberta Beef Producers and Canadian Cattleman's Association and I learned a lot about how Alberta fits into the country and the world ñ the broader picture,î Davis said.Kemmere ñ the only one of the three who has been elected to public office ñ did not describe himself in comparison to the others. But when asked to elaborate on the scope of his municipal experience the former reeve spelled out the leadership roles he has filled at the regional, provincial and national levels ñ often working in close rapport with provincial departments and ministers.ìA lot of people don't realize how much municipal government has changed during the last 30 years,î Kemmere said.Here, in alphabetical order, are quick snapshots of the three candidates.ïïïDarcy Davis owns two sections ñ including five quarters west of Acme ñ which he rents out to his brother. He currently sits on the board of the Agricultural Financial Services Corporation and was chair of the Alberta Beef Producers and finance chair of the Canadian Cattleman's Association. In 2008 he unsuccessfully challenged Marz for the nomination. He is a past president of the Acme Ag Society and with his wife Nora has been a leader in local 4-H clubs and the Acme United Church. They have two daughters ñ Crystal, 22, and Skyler, 26.On representing the constituency, he says: ìI've lived here my whole life, so I understand life in Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills. It's the born and raised thing ñ knowing the issues and knowing how tough the issues can be.ìAlso I'd like to represent rural Alberta. Rural Alberta needs to make its case to urban Alberta. It's where the resources come from and where the two biggest resources are. We're not just on the way ñ or in the way. Seventy-two per cent of the population lives in the Calgary-Edmonton corridor, two-thirds of the population is in the cities. Majority rules, so you have to make the case for the people out here in the pockets, that we really matter.îDavis supported Doug Horner for the PC leadership but, like the other candidates, says Premier Alison Redford is taking Alberta in the right direction.ìThe PC Party,î he says, ìreflects my values (of) conservatism but with an Alberta flavour, where the government can still be a catalyst and take health care and education and manage them. Alison Redford is a great communicator and can pull the province together around the values of the party.îTop priorities include education and seniors' care.ìWe have such a rich resource economy that we tend to see things through rose-coloured glasses,î he says. ìThe oilsands will be here for a long time but conventional extraction has its limits so we have to diversify our economy, we need to educate our kids in the knowledge economy. If we don't have an agile, intelligent, well-trained workforce, we're not going to make it in the next 50 years.îDavis says he sees great potential in Olds College (where his daughter Crystal is currently studying horticulture). ìIt can be a great asset to work in the trades and technical skills as well.î One of the challenges of the education system is ìto engage younger guys at 16 and keep them from dropping out. We need to work on all aspects to make sure that rural kids have all the opportunities they can.îSeniors' care, Davis says, ìis a bit of a personal thing with me,î as he and Nora have spent the past year dealing with the serious health needs of Nora's parents.ìWe're seeing a healthier senior population ñ seniors are living longer ñ but there is still that arc in somebody's life where they need long-term care. We're going to have twice as many seniors in the next 20 years and it's not something we can wait around for.î The private-public partnership model is one way to create more seniors' housing facilities, he says, and the province has to find ways to get more trained home-care workers and caregivers with less than RN or LPN qualifications to perform essential but basic tasks.On health care in general, he says, ìpeople would like their local hospitals to do more.î While communities like Three Hills and Olds have worked successfully to recruit new doctors, ìthe struggle is with specialists ñ they have to send you to Calgary. We need more specialists.îIn an effort to connect with people in the western part of the riding, Davis held an open house at the Cow Palace in Olds last Tuesday. About 40 people showed up. ìIt wasn't overwhelming but good to chat with a few folks.î A similar event was planned for today (Tuesday) at Mugs Coffee House in Didsbury.ïïïAl Kemmere owns 52 acres north of Olds, which he currently rents out, and was in the dairy industry until 1997. He is the Division 7 councillor for Mountain View County and for six years prior to the October 2010 election he served as county reeve. He attended Olds College and has coached hockey, served on the Westview Co-op board when it expanded into Carstairs, and sat on the boards of the UFA and the local Catholic Church. Wife Kathy is currently chair of the Olds Hospice Association. The couple have three grown children ñ Dan, 28, Ashleigh, 26, and Chelsea, 25 ñ and three grandchildren, with a fourth due in January. He is proud, he says, that all three of their children left ìto get their careers and all three moved back to Olds to raise their families.îMayors have described Kemmere's advent as reeve as a key turning point in relations between the county and the towns within its boundaries, leading to the formation of the provincially recognized Municipal Area Partnership.ìMy involvement with towns through MAP is where I think I set up a bit of a pattern of partnership and collaboration,î he says. ìHas it been perfect? No. Does it need work? Definitely. But it gave us a framework for co-operation that we can keep building on.îIn other ìextramunicipalî roles he has been a director of the Central Alberta Economic Partnership for five years and chairman for two, assisting its 42 member municipalities in economic development. He also represents CAEP on Central Alberta: Access Prosperity, which works to bring foreign investment into the region.He represents the central zone for the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties, which advocates to the province on behalf of its members, and is chair of the AAMDC resolutions committee. On the national level he has represented the county at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and for the last three years has also been one of four rural Alberta reps.On his core campaign messages, Kemmere says: ìWe all realize that things have changed in the government and I want to do my part to see that it comes back to PC values: integrity, accountability, honesty and a good innovative state of mind. Accountability is the one that is key ñ what I call people-centred government.îOn the Land Stewardship Act and the Electric Statutes Amendment Act, he says, ìthe people have to have a fair hearing.î Health care is generally working after people get into the system, ìbut it's getting in the door. We have to look at new, innovative ways of getting people in.î One example is the Olds hospital reopening surgical units and bringing in doctors from Red Deer to perform day surgery. As ìnatural users of health care,î seniors can be better served by ìincorporating care into their housing needsî and with more private-public partnerships.On agriculture, Kemmere says: ìThat's what settled this country and 50 years from now I believe agriculture will be the backbone of this country.î Government's role is to act as facilitator for the industry and one strategy will be to identify market needs in Asia and elsewhere abroad and encourage producers back home to target those commodities. A local example is timothy hay, which is now shipped to Japan. ìLet's become part of that market,î he says.On oil and gas, he says the province has to look at the industry ìthrough an environmental lens,î but not try to ìwhip them,î noting that companies operate with extremely high standards. There is also opportunity for value-added. A diesel shortage in Alberta underscores the fact that no major refinery has been built in the West for 25 years, he says. ìWe need to give them a reason to build one.îKemmere credits his father Joe, who passed away in 1999 at age 71, with spurring him into community service. ìMy dad was involved in many organizations and he used to say, ëIf you believe a difference needs to happen, get involved, try to make that difference.' That's why I'm running for the nomination.îïïïWilliam Stevenson grew up in Airdrie and spent summers on the family farm near Crossfield. He earned a degree in political science at the University of Calgary and went on to obtain a degree in commerce and his designation as a certified general accountant, starting a trucking company with his father along the way before opening his accounting firm in Carstairs. He has been a member of the PC Party since 1992 and served as treasurer and in other capacities for both the provincial and federal wings. He is a member of the Madden Lions Club and previously volunteered as an Uncle at Large and sat on the Rocky View subdivision and development appeal board. He met his wife Bev at a political function in Airdrie. ìOne of the key things for any politician,î he says, ìis your spouse has to be on board.î The couple have two girls ñ Ashley, 10, and Emily, 8.ìWith the three of us,î Stevenson says, ìwe all have farming backgrounds. But that's not my focus. The next MLA has to be a lot more well-rounded than just an ag background.îAs an accountant who ìdeals with taxes the whole time,î he says, he wants to work at the provincial government level to increase efficiency and waste elimination.ìA pet peeve of mine is I could electronically e-file federal taxes but we always had to mail or fax to Edmonton.î In 2006 he lobbied MLAs Richard Marz, Ted Morton and others, yet ìit was only this year, in August, that we started e-filing taxes to the provincial government.ìThere's little things we can do. No way they should be taking so long.îAnother example he cites is the former doctor's office in Carstairs that he says sat vacant for six years. Stevenson was interested in buying it for his accounting business, but it took Alberta Health Services six months to find out who had the authority to sell it, he says ñ all the while paying for utilities, snow removal and other expenses. Eventually the town bought the building.ìI think we have too much bureaucracy Ö in all departments and a lot of red tape to eliminate to make (government) more efficient.îOn the local level, Stevenson says his goal is to get more youth involved. To do this, he says, ìwe've got to be speaking their language, we've got to be involved in social media. A lot of the older MLAs, older candidates are not involved in that.î Wild Rose MP Blake Richards, on the other hand, ìis doing it.îStevenson had been opposed to the former Bill 50 ñ the Electric Statutes Amendment Act ñ but says, ìI'm pleased with Alison (Redford) making the moves she hasî on the transmission line issue, and confident that landowner rights will be respected in Edmonton.Also on the local level, he says: ìWe need to have more long-term care beds in our riding.î Not only will that keep seniors in their communities, it will also help ease health-care backlogs. ìFrom what I hear, operating rooms are not being utilized as much as they could be. I think we could do better in administration.îStevenson has said he considers his relative youth an asset in the nomination race. Asked if it's possible that the other candidates' age and experience will count in their favour, and that his time might come later, he answers no.ìThe premier's 46 ñ younger than either of the other two candidates Ö Blake's 36 and he's our MP. Besides, their experience and my experience is quite different,î he says, returning to his first point.ìWe can't have somebody who's just a farmer. That's not enough. And I think the premier's looking that way. The premier is looking to have a younger cabinet.îAnd while he doesn't have as many years of experience as Kemmere, he says, ìI don't have the baggage either. Although the experience may be there, it's a plus and a minus. I don't see it as an advantage.î
