There’s a sea of orange signs dotting lawns and boulevards in central Edmonton.
That’s because the southside core of the city is the territory of the federal riding Edmonton Strathcona, which has been solidly NDP for the last 17 years – ever since Linda Duncan pried it away in a close race from Rahim Jaffer, who represented it on behalf of the Reform/Canadian Alliance/Conservative parties for more than a decade before his 2008 defeat.
Today, it’s Heather McPherson who represents constituents there in the House of Commons, having taken up the NDP mantle from Duncan, who passed the torch for the 2019 vote.
McPherson beat Conservative Sam Lilly in the 2019 election, capturing 47.27 per cent of the vote compared to Lilly’s 37.07 per cent.
In 2021, McPherson – one of 25 NDP members of parliament who earned seats that year – won in a landslide, winning 60.31 per cent of votes compared to second-place Conservative Tunde Obasan, who scored 25 per cent of the ballots that year.
For 2025, Miles Berry will carry Conservative hopes in Edmonton Strathcona, while Ron Thiering is the Liberal hopeful.
But given McPherson’s hold on the riding as evidenced by the 2021 result, the distinct lack of Conservative blue and Liberal red signage around Edmonton’s central southside, and the early projection that she’s likely to be re-elected, her victory seems a safe bet.
McPherson said, beyond her two federal victories, one just has to look at how the provincial NDP fares against conservative parties in recent elections to know it’s possible for left-wing ideals to thrive.
“We’ve seen it time and time again in Alberta (that) it’s New Democrats that can beat Conservatives,” she told CTV News Edmonton on Monday. “For us, that’s just the message that we have to keep talking to voters about.”
McPherson said she hopes voters recognize the value and impact of voting for her party in Canada’s parliamentary system, referencing the federal NDP’s influence in backing the minority Liberal government to introduce more services.
“The things that Canadians cherish, that they appreciate – things like our health care and now our expanded dental care program – those things happened when we had a minority government with the NDP holding those governments accountable and making sure that they kept their promises to Canadians,” she said.
CTV News Edmonton contacted Berry for an interview a week ago but has not been able to schedule one with him since.
Besides McPherson, Berry and Thiering, Christian Bourque is running for the Communist Party of Canada in the Edmonton Strathcona riding, while David Wojtowicz is the People’s Party of Canada hopeful.
With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Connor Hogg
