Provincial Liberal nominated in Edmonton-Riverview

By Jesse Snyder

EDMONTON – Alberta Liberal candidate Arif Khan was officially nominated to run in the next provincial election in Edmonton-Riverview at the Crestwood Community League on Friday.

Two Liberal senators, former Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan, and federal Liberal candidate in Edmonton-Centre, Mary Macdonald looked on as Khan took a stab at the provincial Conservatives’ spending habits.

“Spending continued to rise, revenues continue to shrink…they have shown they cannot manage the economy,” he said.

Khan was nominated by the current MLA of the constituency, Kevin Taft, who has been giving Khan support throughout his candidacy.

“Kevin’s been very supportive,” said Khan. “I mean extremely – to the point where I hear from him everyday.”

Taft has held the seat in Edmonton-Riverview since his first election in 2001. Since then, Taft won by comfortable margins in each election.

Taft joked about Khan’s ability to attract such a large and influential crowd, while Taft himself had trouble convincing his own sister to show up at his nomination.

 

The Alberta Party also came up in Khan’s speech: the party isn’t running on policy, he said, rather it has only dropped the name ‘Liberal’ to appear fresh.

“There are those out there who say let’s forget about our principles, let’s just change the name, he said. “I can’t agree with that.”

Liberal Senator Grant Mitchell opened the night up with the first speech of the night.

He said Khan came forward for all the right reasons and in all the right ways.

“I particularly admire the way he respectfully and humbly brought himself into the party,” he said.

Khan will be running against NDP candidate Lori Sigurdson and Wildrose Alliance candidate Jon Corie. No Conservative representative has been officially nominated yet.