Sturgeon River—Parkland is a rural riding in Central Alberta; to the north and west of the city of Edmonton. The constituency covers a number of prairie towns and Indian reserves.
The riding of was vacated on July 4, 2017, due to the resignation of Rona Ambrose whose term as interim Conservative Party of Canada leader ended with the election of her successor on May 27, 2017.[1] Ambrose announced her decision to resign to the Conservative Party caucus on May 12, 2017, and her decision was made public on May 15.[1] The suburban Edmonton riding was created for the 2015 federal election and has had Ambrose as its sole MP. It was created predominantly out of the former electoral district of Edmonton—Spruce Grove – for which Ambrose was the MP since its inception at the 2004 federal election – as well as Westlock—St. Paul which was held only by Conservatives from its creation in 2004 until it was abolished in 2015, as well as a small portion from the Yellowhead constituency which has been Conservative since 2003, and was previously held successively by the Progressive Conservatives, Reform Party and Canadian Alliance.
Former parliamentary staffer Dane Lloyd[2][3] defeated businessman and former 2017 Conservative leadership contestant Rick Peterson,[4] Ambrose constituency staffer Luke Inberg[5] and former Prime Minister's Office staffer Jamie Mozeson[6] for the Conservative nomination. A rumoured candidate for the Conservative nomination was Garry Keller, who served as Ambrose's chief of staff.[7] On August 25, Keller declared he would not run for the nomination.[8] The nomination to choose a Conservative candidate was held over two days, September 23 and 24.[9]
Medical laboratory technologist Shawna Gawreluck was selected as the NDP candidate.[10]
Educator Ernest Chauvet defeated businessman Kevin Schulthies for the Christian Heritage Party nomination on September 14.[11]
The warrant issued by the Speaker regarding the vacancy was received by the Chief Electoral Officer on July 4, 2017; under the Parliament of Canada Act the writ for a by-election had to be dropped no sooner than August 21, 2017, and no later than December 31, 2017 (11 and 180 days, respectively, from the warrant receipt date).[12] On September 17, 2017, the writ was dropped for a by-election held on October 23, 2017.[13]
