EDMONTON — Former Sherwood Park MLA Jordon Walker has won the riding's UCP nomination race ahead of the 2023 general election, outlasting pro-independence candidate Kathy Flett. "During my previous term as a Government MLA, I delivered on schools, healthcare and Industrial Heartland infrastructure, and I helped get the hospital expansion process moving forward," reads a statement from Walker posted on Facebook on Sunday. "Now I am asking the people of Sherwood Park to send me back to the Legislature and back into Government Caucus so I can get that critical hospital file across the finish line." Walker won the Sherwood Park UCP nomination following the constituency association's election on Saturday, picking up 65% of the 389 ballots cast and defeating Flett by a count of 253 votes to 136. The nomination race reflected what polls have suggested: a divided UCP party on the issue of Alberta independence. Flett is one of the individuals behind the Alberta Women's Independence Network, a group seeking to build a support network for Alberta independence and for women and their families..Walker served as the riding's MLA from 2019 to 2023, but lost his position to Alberta NDP candidate and current MLA Kyle Kasawki, who won the 2023 election with 50.3% of the vote and defeated Walker by 1,661 ballots. "I look forward to the campaign to win Sherwood Park back for the UCP and put our riding back in the Government Caucus, where decisions are made and where MLAs can actually deliver for their constituents," wrote Walker. "Sherwood Park deserves an effective Government MLA—not an ineffective socialist Opposition MLA who does not and cannot deliver for our community." He thanked the volunteers and voters who helped him win the nomination and gave him a chance to reclaim his office. "The nomination is won," Walker wrote. "Now we have a riding to win."
