Calgary Signal Hill

Calgary Signal Hill covers a wide band of Calgary's west side, running from the Bow River in the north to Glenmore Trail in the south and from the city's western boundary east to roughly 37th Street SW. The riding draws from portions of the former Calgary West and Calgary Centre-North ridings following the 2012 redistribution. Its roughly two dozen neighbourhoods span a wide socioeconomic range, from the affluent estates of Aspen Woods and Springbank Hill at the city's western edge to more modest postwar bungalow districts closer to downtown.

Candidates

Ron Liepert (Conservative) was born in 1949 in Saltcoats, Saskatchewan, and grew up on the family farm before moving to Alberta in 1971. He trained at the Columbia School of Broadcasting and spent eight years as a radio and television news reporter in the Edmonton area. From 1980 to 1985 he served as press secretary to Premier Peter Lougheed. He later served as a Progressive Conservative MLA for Calgary-West from 2004 to 2012, holding cabinet portfolios in Health and Wellness, Education, Energy, and Finance. He defeated incumbent MP Rob Anders for the federal Conservative nomination in 2014 and was first elected to Parliament in 2015.

Ghada Alatrash (Liberal) holds a PhD in educational research from the University of Calgary and a master's degree in English literature from the University of Oklahoma. A faculty member at Mount Royal University teaching in the humanities department, she is the author of Stripped to the Bone: Portraits of Syrian Women, a short-story collection exploring the lives of Syrian women in diaspora. She has been a TEDx speaker and is active in diversity and equity work.

Khalis Ahmed (NDP) is a geoscientist with decades of experience leading and managing projects in the oil and gas sector in Canada and Norway. He was a resident of the Signal Hill neighbourhood, where he volunteered with Battalion Park School Council and served as vice-president of the Bangladesh Canada Association of Calgary. He had previously run for the NDP in the 2015 federal election and the 2017 Calgary Heritage by-election.

Marco Reid (Green Party) represented the Green Party in the riding.

Also on the ballot were Gord Squire (People's Party), Christina Bassett (Rhinoceros Party), and Garry Dirk (Christian Heritage Party).

About the Riding

The riding's western edge features large-lot executive homes in Aspen Woods, Springbank Hill, West Springs, and Discovery Ridge, many backing onto ravines and coulee systems, with household incomes well above the city average. Signal Hill itself, the riding's namesake community developed in the 1980s and 1990s, centres on a commercial hub near the intersection of Sirocco Drive and Sarcee Trail. Moving east, older neighbourhoods like Glamorgan, Glenbrook, Glendale, Rosscarrock, and Westgate date to the 1950s and 1960s, with smaller bungalows, mature tree canopies, and proximity to LRT stations on the Blue Line.

Bowness, nestled along the Bow River in the riding's northwest corner, was originally an independent town until Calgary annexed it in 1964. Its main street retains a village character with independent shops, cafes, and the Bowness Park lagoon. Canada Olympic Park, the site of several events during the 1988 Winter Olympics, sits within the riding's northern communities and is closely associated with the surrounding neighbourhoods. The Bow River and its valley system form the riding's northern edge, providing extensive cycling and running pathways. Calgary Signal Hill's proximity to both downtown and the University of Calgary supports a mix of energy-sector professionals, academics, and small-business owners, and the economy's dependence on the oil and gas industry shaped a 2019 campaign centred on pipeline approvals, carbon policy, and Alberta's fiscal relationship with Ottawa.