Five candidates vying to replace Martin Shields as Bow River Riding MP
By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
As Bow River Riding MP Martin Shields has decided to not seek re-election in the next federal election, five candidates are vying for the vote within the Conservative Party of Canada to attempt to replace him.
Nominations closed Feb. 25 for prospective candidates to have decided whether to participate. Among the candidates are Graham Abela, JL DeCosta, David Bexte, Josh Senneker, and Ritesh Narayan.
Graham Abela
“For me, my whole life has been dedicated to service … as a police officer for just about 31 years and as a chief of police for nine, I have always felt a call to serve and I have been doing that in the community,” said Abela. “I am getting close to the end of my skis as being a police officer, and the chief of police and I thought what better way to serve than to become the member of parliament and represent my riding in Ottawa.”
Though this would be Abela’s first step into career politics, he explained he is familiar with the realm, having interacted with politicians as required through his years of service as a police officer.
Abela also holds a master’s degree in leadership and training, as well as a doctoral degree in education. Being promoted to chief of police in 2016, he has remained in that position ever since.
“During my career, I feel like I have built or gathered the skills, knowledge, experience, competencies, to demonstrate that I have sound judgement and proven leadership,” he said. “The real reason I got into service is about the community. It is about building capacity in others, it is about ensuring community wellness, community safety, and really giving back to communities that need it.”
Abela emphasized his responsibility in having been required to lead the Taber Police Service through the COVID-19 pandemic in a “common sense” manner, being a demonstration of his leadership capacity.
“I think the decision for the people in our riding moving forward is going to be, do we want a career politician in the role of our Member of Parliament, or do we want someone who is from here, has paid taxes here, has a residence here, who has been through the blood, sweat, and tears hand in arm with their neighbors through the issues that we have had over the last several years?”
He added he believes among the candidates, he is best suited to address the challenges in Canada’s criminal justice system and how to fix them in Ottawa among his priorities.
David Bexte
“I spent my career working in agriculture and energy and so I understand firsthand the challenges facing families and workers and business owners,” said Bexte. “The reason I want to run is because it is about family and it is about community and I want to make this a better place for work, for constituents in my riding.”
Bexte explained the fundamentals of why he wants to run is to cut taxes, “unleash” Alberta’s energy industry, and to “restore common sense in how everything functions.”
He said farmers and energy workers built Alberta and built Canada, and need to not be punished by the federal government in Ottawa.
“I was born and raised in this riding, been a conservative my whole life, and shared conservative values. I have connections and have worked with every element of the industries that are in this riding,” he said. “I have volunteered with fire departments, I have volunteered with 4-H, volunteered with the Lions Club. It is my home, it is where I live and I have integrity, contacts, and experience to make a difference.”
Bexte added he believes 10 years of Liberal mismanagement is a tall order to fix everything that is wrong, and fundamentally, the perspectives of farmers, small businesses, workers and families in the riding need to be represented, and at the front of all policy discussions.
Ultimately the goal of running is to convert his collective experiences in Alberta’s primary industries into “meaningful change and repair of our society.”
He said he wants to see the natural affiliation and alignment between a conservative Alberta government, and a conservative federal government, rather than the combative stance currently ongoing between Alberta and Ottawa.
JL DeCosta
“I come from a family of small business owners and also energy professionals. My family is a story like a lot in Alberta where energy put food on the table,” said DeCosta. “My campaign is essentially about freedom and fairness for all – it is a very Alberta-first policy.”
DeCosta holds a degree in political science, and moved to Ottawa in 2020 to “fight for Alberta” and has been representing the riding in the office of the MP for Bow River riding as the director of parliamentary affairs.
Should he be allowed to serve as the next candidate to replace Shields, DeCosta explained he aims to continue building on relationships established both at home in the riding, as well as in Ottawa, and to bring investment opportunities and eyes to the Bow River riding.
“A lot of people, a lot of colleagues I have in Ottawa, they work for MPs in areas they are not from. For example, you can be from BC working for an Ontario MP and that is all well and good, we are all trying to fight the same fight to hold the Liberal government accountable, but I think it is really important to me that I have been serving my neighbours and my community in the riding,” he said. “I have a stake in the future of our province. I want to see our province succeed and I want to be part of the change, hopefully, that a conservative government will drive to the better.”
DeCosta added he is the only candidate with current experience in Parliament and is already familiar with everything that has gone through the office of the MP for the last several years.
“I have essentially been doing the job of the MP from behind the scenes, serving our outgoing MP and hopefully I will have the opportunity and the privilege … to continue building relationships,” he said. “I am the only candidate with the experience necessary to do the job of a parliamentarian, to deliver the concrete message, to enact the change, and represent everyone in the riding.”
Ritesh Narayan
“I continue to enjoy being a city councilor and being an MP has always been on my radar, but no matter what I do, I like to be good at the job, and I just figured if I tried to go and directly become an MP, I just simply wouldn’t be a good MP,” said Narayan. “I think there are MPs and then there are MPs who are more effective and get things done and I really wanted to learn how to do governance and read policies and make policies and the place to start was right at home.”
Narayan holds eight years of experience as a Chestermere city councilor, a doctoral degree in human services specializing in criminal justice and has taught both at Mount Royal University and the University of Calgary.
Residing in Chestermere for the last 20 years, he explained he felt like being in politics was a way to give back to the local community, and rather than being a job, it has been a service.
“This particular constituency means a lot to me not only because I live here, I feel I understand this constituency, I feel I can connect with the people,” he said.
Narayan explained he feels Shields has done an exceptional job of representing the riding during his time in office, and that level of service needs to continue.
Despite a confidence in running as a conservative being a “safe” seat, he added the local demographic is beginning to change.
“There is a lot of fear mongering and it is causing all sorts of uncertainty in this riding, so in order to maintain confidence, we need to show the constituents that we are a responsible government and we will be putting people here that (they) can connect with and who can help them,” said Narayan. “I find that our constituents are looking for some common-sense relief. You hear about ‘lets be tough on crime,’ well what does that even mean? We tried being tough on crime during the Harper era and sadly a lot of those legislations were overturned by the Supreme Court.”
He explained the “common sense” approach he refers to is to craft policies in a way that is able to be held up in court as opposed to being overturned.
Josh Senneker
“I was convinced from a young age that my calling was to fight back against the progressive agenda that devalues life, that attacks families and that undermines our freedoms,” said Senneker. “I have spent my life fighting for those true conservative values. I have worked for conservative campaigns across the country working to advance our values and advance the conservative movement.”
Senneker explained his goal for wanting to serve as the candidate to replace Shields is to bring his conviction, energy, and frontline experience of working on a multitude of conservative campaigns to Parliament Hill.
He said he believes people of conviction must stand and uphold their values not simply behind the scenes, but are willing to fight for them and take a bold stance in public.
“As a country, we face many issues: we have got crippling capital gains taxes on family farms, we have unstoppable rural crime, out of control spending – I am going to work to solve each of those,” he said. “I really believe if we are going to fix Canada, we can’t only deal with the symptoms, we have to return to our heritage as a nation. It is founded on the supremacy of God and the rule of law.”
Senneker explained his campaign will focus on saving women’s only spaces and biological men must be kept out of such spaces, standing up for human life as everyone is made in the image of God, and the defense of the right to worship God.
“I believe churches are essential. I will call for an immediate investigation into the string of church burnings, arsons, I will call for laws protecting free speech of pastors, and for the rights of all parents to raise their children according to their beliefs,” he said. “I believe that the truth is real and that we must defend it and that we must act with conviction according to the truth.”
More information about each candidate and their individual platforms is available through their respective websites and social medias. A concrete date for announcing the riding’s new candidate has not yet been announced as of the release of this article.