The Green Party is bringing back a familiar face to run in the riding of Fort McMurray-Cold Lake.
Lac La Biche resident Brian Deheer will be running for the party for a sixth time.
He recently ran as a provincial candidate in this year’s Alberta election and as a federal candidate back in 2015.
Deheer tells Mix News he would be the voice the region has been lacking.
“I have heard from some of the voters that I’ve talked to, particularly in Lac La Biche, that we haven’t heard very much of our current sitting member of parliament. I think the people of Fort McMurray deserve to be represented strongly in Ottawa.”
He’s focusing a lot of his time on priorities aimed at protecting the environment, improving Indigenous relations, and adapting more principles set by the United Nations.
Deheer also wants to help the oilsands develop more environmentally friendly mining techniques.
“What we’ve tried to do is find a well reasoned, balanced approach where we try and continue with the industries that we have, although for myself there’s a lot of things for myself that I think they could be doing in a more clean or greener way.”
Historically, Wood Buffalo has been a very conservative region.
Deheer notes residents may actually relate more to the green party then they believe.
“People who look into our policies and our platform will find somethings are what people might ordinarily characterize as right, or as left, or as middle.”
Joining Deheer on the ballot is incumbent David Yurdiga with the Conservative’s, Liberal candidate Maggie Farrington, Matthew Barrett with the People’s Party of Canada, and Matthew Gilks of the NDP.