Medicine Hat--Cardston--Warner

Medicine Hat--Cardston--Warner spans the southeastern corner of Alberta, taking in the city of Medicine Hat, the adjacent town of Redcliff, and a broad sweep of agricultural and ranching country running south and west along the United States border to the foothills near Waterton. The riding covers Cypress County, the County of Forty Mile, Cardston County, and Warner County.

Candidates

Glen Motz (Conservative) -- The incumbent MP, Motz grew up in Hanna, Alberta, and spent 35 years with the Medicine Hat Police Service, retiring as inspector in 2015. During his policing career he served in patrols, intelligence, major crimes, and the tactical team. He received the Order of Merit of Police Forces in 2013. Motz was first elected in a 2016 by-election.

Elizabeth Thomson (NDP) -- Born and raised in Medicine Hat, Thomson held a Master of Laws in international human rights and international criminal law. She served as constituency association president for the provincial NDP and identified jobs and the economy as the riding's most pressing issues.

Harris Kirshenbaum (Liberal) -- A retired consultant based in Calgary, Kirshenbaum had worked on multiple Liberal campaigns at the provincial and federal level over the years. The 2019 race was his first as a candidate.

Andrew Nelson (People's Party) -- Originally from the United Kingdom, Nelson had served in the Canadian Forces before entering civilian life in the Medicine Hat area. He was new to politics and ran on the PPC platform of reduced federal intervention.

Shannon Hawthorne (Green Party) and Dave Phillips (Independent) also sought election.

About the Riding

Medicine Hat, with a population of approximately 63,000, has been known as "The Gas City" since the late 19th century for the enormous natural gas reserves beneath it. The city sits atop one of Canada's oldest shallow gas fields, first tapped in the 1880s, and Rudyard Kipling famously described Medicine Hat as having "all hell for a basement" after visiting in 1907. While conventional gas production has declined from its peak, the petrochemical and greenhouse industries built on cheap energy remain significant employers. Redcliff, just northwest of Medicine Hat, is a greenhouse capital where operators grow tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers year-round.

Agriculture is the riding's other economic anchor. The Eastern Irrigation District channels water from the Bow River to farms across the semi-arid prairie, supporting crops including potatoes, sugar beets, canola, and specialty vegetables alongside dryland grain farming. The riding has one of Canada's highest concentrations of Hutterite colonies, communal agricultural operations that are major producers of eggs, poultry, hogs, and grain.

Cardston, in the riding's southwest, holds particular significance for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Cardston Alberta Temple, dedicated in 1923, was the first LDS temple built outside the United States. The surrounding communities of Magrath, Raymond, and Stirling were settled by Mormon pioneers from Utah in the late 1890s, and that heritage continues to shape the cultural fabric of the area. The Blood Tribe (Kainai Nation), one of Canada's largest First Nations reserves by area, occupies land between Cardston and Lethbridge. The riding abuts the Cypress Hills, a plateau of ecological significance hosting Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park. Federal issues in 2019 included agricultural trade, natural gas policy, firearms regulation, and support for Indigenous communities.