Lakeland

Lakeland spans a broad swath of east-central Alberta, stretching from the Saskatchewan border in the east to the town of Athabasca in the west. The riding takes its name from the area's topography—a landscape dotted with hundreds of lakes, sloughs, and wetlands characteristic of Alberta's parkland belt. Its largest communities are Bonnyville, St. Paul, the Alberta portion of Lloydminster, Vermilion, and Two Hills. Re-created in the 2013 redistribution from parts of the former Vegreville—Wainwright, Westlock—St. Paul, and Fort McMurray—Athabasca ridings, Lakeland is a predominantly rural riding where agriculture and energy extraction form the backbone of the local economy.

Candidates

Shannon Stubbs (Conservative) Born near Chipman, Alberta, Stubbs holds a Bachelor of Arts with Joint Honours in English and Political Science from the University of Alberta. Before entering politics she worked in the Oil Sands Business Unit of the Alberta Department of Energy, the International Offices and Trade Division of Alberta Economic Development, and as a senior consultant with Hill+Knowlton Canada. First elected in 2015 with 74% of the vote, she was re-elected in 2019 with the highest vote percentage of any female MP in Canadian history. She received the Maclean's Parliamentarian of the Year Award for best representing constituents in both 2017 and 2021.

Ann McCormack (PPC) A pharmacist from Clandonald who lives on a family farm with her husband, McCormack was drawn to the People's Party after attending events with party leader Maxime Bernier. With parents who were actively engaged in Alberta politics, she brought a focus on decentralization of federal power and opposition to vaccine mandates.

Des Bissonnette (NDP) A 26-year-old artist and energy labourer from Lloydminster, Bissonnette is also a published author of the 2014 young adult novel "Bruise." After working in retail, housekeeping, and as a support worker for a young man with disabilities, she was motivated to enter politics by her own experiences as a working-class Albertan and advocated for transitioning energy workers into renewable sector employment.

John Turvey (Liberal) The Liberal Party candidate for Lakeland, Turvey represented the party in a riding that has historically returned Conservative members by wide margins.

About the Riding

Lakeland's economy rests on two pillars: petroleum and agriculture. The riding sits atop the western edge of the Lloydminster heavy oil belt and encompasses conventional oil and gas production zones that have sustained drilling, pipeline, and service company employment for decades. Lloydminster, straddling the Alberta-Saskatchewan border, is a hub for heavy oil upgrading and refining, with the Husky Energy upgrader (now Cenovus) processing heavy crude into synthetic oil. Bonnyville and the surrounding area host significant thermal heavy oil extraction operations.

Agriculture anchors the riding's southern and central communities. The parkland zone produces canola, wheat, barley, and pulse crops, while mixed farming operations combining grain and cattle are common across the region. Vermilion is home to Lakeland College, a post-secondary institution originally founded as the Vermilion School of Agriculture in 1913, which continues to offer programs in agricultural sciences, environmental management, and trades. St. Paul, the district's other major service centre, gained international fame in 1967 when it built the world's first UFO landing pad as a Canadian Centennial project—a tongue-in-cheek attraction that remains a tourist draw.

The riding's Ukrainian, French-Canadian, and Métis heritage communities give Lakeland a distinctive cultural texture. St. Paul and surrounding areas have deep Franco-Albertan roots, while communities like Two Hills, Mundare, and Vegreville (adjacent to but outside the riding) reflect the Ukrainian settlement wave of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Métis Settlements of Fishing Lake, Elizabeth, and Kikino—three of Alberta's eight Métis Settlements—lie within the riding, representing a significant Indigenous population with distinct land-governance structures unique to Alberta.