BARRHEAD – For Landen Tischer, the New Democrat Party (NDP) candidate in the Athabasca-Barrhead-Westlock riding, the 2023 Alberta Provincial Election held May 29 was about building momentum for the future, and proudly carrying the flag for a party that he believes in.
Tischer, who ran against United Conservative Party (UCP) incumbent Glenn van Dijken, said that he was happy with what they accomplished, although he wished that the gap had been a little closer — while the numbers are still unofficial, the NDP received 6.2 per cent less of the vote in the riding compared to the 2019 election, with Tischer collecting 5,406 votes to the 15,628 of van Dijken.
“This was my first time running for political office. I never ran for school council, or student president when I was in college,” said Tischer during a June 2 interview. “We came into this hoping to triple the NDP membership and make some friends in the NDP. There’s not much of a left-minded community out here in the sticks, to use the expression.”
Tischer knew from the start that he wasn’t going to win the riding, but wanted to try and build something for the future.
“There’s a lot of disinformation out there, and nobody is taking the time to talk with people out in this area about how ridiculous some of these things are,” said Tischer. “I wanted to get out there and take the flak from people and just talk to them.”
Tischer said he chose the NDP for a variety of reasons, calling it “a community of politically compassionate northern Albertans.”
“I want to see free education for public sector jobs, and a government that creates a strategy for people to rise out of poverty, without saddling them with personal debt.”
A major point of controversy during the campaign was the May 15 all-candidates forum, held by the Barrhead Chamber of Commerce, which he withdrew from at the last minute.
He said that while he regretted how he handled it and vowed that “next time I’ll be sure to give them more notice” he doesn’t believe political forums accomplish much.
“I was busy, we were trying to do things for the forum, and when everyone shows up to a forum wearing their blue or orange pin, and then they leave wearing the same pin. No one switches pins, no one is having their minds changed. It’s just a dogpile on the NDP, especially in this area,” said Tischer. “I don’t think that I needed to … I won’t stretch too far into it. It was a good time for Glenn to stretch into his politics and his leadership of the area, and I’m glad that he got the opportunity to do that.”
Negativity was something that plagued Tischer’s campaign, although he opted not to speak about it during the campaign.
“I didn’t want to talk about it during the election, because talking about it encourages it. The first two weeks of the election, I was going out twice a day to re-set up my signs around Barrhead. And it wasn’t windy either, if that’s your question.”
