Federal election 2025: Edmonton West contenders weigh in on race to April 28

The battle between Liberal Leader Mark Carney and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is playing out on doorsteps in the Edmonton-West riding where a former Conservative stalwart is taking on a long-time Conservative incumbent.. Kelly J.

McCauley was floored by the exuberant turnout at the April 8 Poilievre rally in Nisku, south of Edmonon. “It was incredible. I’ve been to rock concerts that have been quieter than the crowd last night.



It’s not often you leave a political rally when your voice is hoarse and your ears are ringing from the cheering. It was something,” the Conservative MP incumbent said. McCauley said he’s hearing what’s on the minds of constituents as he knocks on doors.

By April 9 his team had been to half the front doors in the riding. “Cost of living is always Number 1,” McCauley said, adding U.S.

President Donald Trump and tariffs to the list. “Crime is one of the things that comes up, and oil and gas has always come up as one of the top issues, because we’re Alberta. A lot of jobs in our riding in Edmonton rely on the oil and gas industry and how it provides for the whole province,” he said.

In office since 2015, he says he always campaigns like it’s a tight race. “I keep hearing from people what’s important to them, and letting them know that I continue to be their servant, and not the other way around. And we’ll continue to look after Edmontonians and look after Albertans,” McCauley said.

Brad Fournier The Liberal candidate for Edmonton-West, Brad J. Fournier, is no stranger to the federal political milieu. Once active with the Conservative Party, he worked with Alberta’s Rona Ambrose, a multi-portfolio cabinet minister under Stephen Harper, and later Official Opposition leader.

“When she finished politics, I discovered the progressive voice had been lost. My centrist politics hadn’t shifted, but the Conservative Party had shifted hard right — and only continues to go down that path,” he said. Fournier said he can get behind Carney, who was hired by Harper and lauded by Harper and by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty for his performance as governor of the Bank of Canada, and that Carney’s centrist management of the economy at that time was a comfort to Canadians, as was his choice by another Conservative prime minister, Ian Cameron, to manage Brexit.

A leader hired by two G7 countries to manage their most uncertain economic times resonated with him at a time the Trump presidency threatens Canada’s economic future and sovereignty, he said, citing the economy, the Trump presidency and tariffs, and concerns for Canada’s sovereignty among the top concerns of constituents. “It’s going to require strong action and a strong leader to manage that on our behalf,” Fournier said, adding that he sees the potential for Liberal wins for many Edmontonians. “They were staunch Conservatives, and no longer find themselves at home in that party,” he said.

Sean McQuillen While the federal election has been widely described as a two-person race between Carmey and Poilievre, in the riding of Edmonton-West, NDP candidate Sean McQuillen is wading into the fray. “I know people are worried about Trump, but the concerns that existed before Trump didn’t magically go away,” McQuillen said. “What people are really concerned about is housing and cost of living, more than anything else.

A big thing that is a major concern for people. Generally the province of Alberta is concerned about health care, and what the federal government can do to help,” he said. “The cost of living, there’s something where what we need to focus on when it comes to essentials — where the profit margins are.

We’ve been gouged at the grocery store and gouged at the gas pump. Our everyday essentials are something that’s privatized to a point that, because of monopolies we have in Canada, they were able to set prices,” he said. In B.

C., McQuillen saw firsthand what the high cost of housing does to an economy and local businesses. “It is the government’s job, as we declared housing a human right, to make sure that we keep housing within affordable ranges, and that means people spending no more than 25 to 30 per cent of their income on housing,” he said.

“We should have pathways to ownership no matter what your income level is, and that comes federally through co-op housing, and that’s something that we need to now start working on at a federal level,” he said. “Even though the provincial government’s kind of blocked (the federal government from) directly working with municipalities, that’s something we’re going to have to find a way to work around with them. “The higher the cost of housing is, the more people need from government for their retirement,” McQuillen said.

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