Who's going to win in Edmonton Griesbach?
NDP MP Blake Desjarlais faces former Conservative MP Kerry Diotte and Mark Carney's red wave
As Canada’s federal election enters its final week, I am taking a closer look at the race in the Edmonton Griesbach riding. It’s one of a surprisingly large handful of Alberta ridings that are considered competitive in this election and it also happens to be the riding I live and vote in.
The east central/north side Edmonton riding was where the NDP picked up their second seat in Alberta in the 2021 federal election when New Democrat Blake Desjarlais defeated two-term Conservative MP Kerry Diotte. This year’s election is a rematch between the two candidates but, despite traditionally being a blue-orange race, the Liberal Party’s surge could put that party’s candidate in the mix.
The first time I met Desjarlais was a few months before the 2021 election. I ran into him and a mutual acquaintance in the 112th Avenue business area in the Highlands neighbourhood. After chatting with Desjarlais for a few minutes, I walked away thinking “Wow. He sounds like a great candidate. It’s too bad he’s going to lose to the Conservatives.”
At that point, the NDP had come close but failed to defeat Diotte, who first won the seat in 2015 against Janis Irwin, who is now the NDP MLA for Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood.
It turns out my cynicism was misplaced, as Desjarlais defeated Diotte a few months later in the September 2021 elections.
That year’s election was held at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and a severe lack of local enthusiasm for the Conservatives, led nationally by Erin O’Toole and provincially by Premier Jason Kenney, resulted in a sharp drop in the party’s vote. It also helped Desjarlais’ campaign that Diotte, a former journalist and city councillor, had spent a lot of his time as MP courting controversy.
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