by Niki Luymes
April 21, 2025 issue: On April 9, the Edson and District Chamber of Commerce hosted a community forum with the federal Yellowhead riding candidates for the upcoming federal election on April 28.
Four of the six candidates for the Yellowhead federal electoral district were in attendance at the Galloway Station Museum. The event began at 7pm, with closing statements taking place at approximately 8:15pm. Peter Taylor was the moderator for the evening.
Each candidate was presented with two minutes for an opening statement.
Candidates in attendance included Vicky Bayford of the People’s Party of Canada from Innisfail. Michael Fark of the Liberal Party of Canada, previously from Canmore but currently living in Jasper. Avni Soma of the New Democratic Party from Canmore. And William Stevenson of the Conservative Party of Canada, who lives near Crossfield. Missing from the forum was Green Party candidate William Marshall and Christian Heritage Party candidate Dale Heath.
After opening statements, the event proceeded with questions from the audience. The candidates were allotted 90 seconds to answer each question. The order in which candidates answered was chosen by random draw. Questions could be directed to either one, some, or all of the candidates. Topics ranged from general issues such as climate and tariffs to ones more specific to this riding.
With the Edson region being the second largest producer of natural gas in the province and a major forest products producer, The Weekly Anchor asked the candidates how their party was planning on supporting and strengthening these industries that are so pivotal to Edson’s economy.
“The PPC want to try to get rid of a lot of the regulatory red tape that is redundant, and doesn’t actually help protect anybody,” said Bayford, “I worked for an oil and gas company as a regulatory advisor. We had so many redundant regulations that just caused more paperwork and more hours as opposed to actually getting the job done. At a federal level we definitely have to look at everything we have in place and make sure that Alberta is the most business friendly place it can be, because our productivity in the country has continued to slide down. We need to become competitive again and allow business to rise, because those are the people that employ people and the ones who pay people, and that’s how we are going to grow Canada again. It’s not going to come from the government giving us handouts.”
Soma responded, “The NDP has always supported unions and they are the backbone of the workers in all these industries. The NDP would continue to support workers and ensure that they are getting paid well and that the corporations are not taking too much profit.”
Stevenson said, “I don’t think the natural gas and forest industries in this area are run by unions. I think it is small business. And the biggest part, I think, is opening up access to markets around the world. We have several different legislations that the Liberal government have brought in. Bill C-69 stopping more pipelines and the ones that prevent tankers on the west coast. Those will be gone so that we can actually export to foreign markets. Currently, the forestry industry has been having it’s own problems, especially with the neighbours to the south. So we are going to have to be able to have other markets across the world for our products. I think that a Conservative government means that we will be open for business around the world.”
Fark found himself in agreement with Stevenson. “There is a critical need to diversify our trade markets. Traditionally in Canada 80% of our trade has gone to the United States and they are now proving to be an unreliable partner. We need to develop better partnerships and diversify trading markets. And then, of course we need the investment in infrastructure. There is a need to invest in roads, railroads, ports, airports etc, that create the infrastructure that is required to get products to market.”
It was a great turnout with over 90 people in attendance. Candidates remained after the forum to answer questions from local residents. Election day is April 28, and advance polls will be held April 18, 19, 20, and 21.