Fort Saskatchewan—Vegreville

Fort Saskatchewan—Vegreville stretched east from the small city of Fort Saskatchewan, just northeast of Edmonton, through the agricultural and industrial heartland of Strathcona County and Lamont County to the town of Vegreville on Highway 16A. Fort Saskatchewan sat at the centre of Alberta's Industrial Heartland, one of the largest hydrocarbon processing regions in the country, home to petrochemical plants, refineries, and upgraders. Vegreville, about 100 kilometres east of Edmonton, was an agricultural service centre and the home of a major federal immigration case-processing centre. Incumbent PC MLA Jacquie Fenske had been elected in 2012 and faced a challenge from the surging NDP.

Candidates

Jessica Littlewood (NDP) — Littlewood had worked as an accounting executive assistant at Ernst and Young, as an assistant manager at Goodwill Industries of Alberta, and as a nursing attendant at Good Samaritan Society before entering politics. She ran on the NDP wave that was sweeping across Alberta.

Jacquie Fenske (Progressive Conservative) — Fenske was a third-generation Strathcona County resident who earned a bachelor of education degree from the University of Alberta and taught junior and senior high school for over a decade in Edmonton public schools. She also operated her family's group of companies, Fifendekel, including pie shop cafes in Edmonton. Before provincial politics she served on Strathcona County council from 1995 to 1998 and again from 2004 to 2012, and held roles with the Alberta Association of Agricultural Societies.

Joe Gosselin (Wildrose) — Gosselin carried the Wildrose banner in a riding that straddled the Edmonton commuter belt, where the party had less traction than in deeper rural Alberta.

Peter Schneider (Liberal) — Schneider ran for the Liberals in the riding.

Derek Christensen (Alberta Party) — Christensen carried the Alberta Party banner.

Allison Anderson (Green Party) — Anderson ran for the Green Party in the riding.

Local Issues

Fort Saskatchewan's position within Alberta's Industrial Heartland meant that petrochemical investment was a major local concern. The region housed numerous chemical and petrochemical manufacturers. In 2014, the Vantage Pipeline began shipping ethane from North Dakota to Alberta, bolstering feedstock supply for local crackers. The oil price crash, however, raised questions about whether planned expansions would proceed on schedule and whether related construction jobs would materialize.

In Vegreville, the federal immigration case-processing centre was one of the town's largest employers, and there were growing concerns about the aging building that housed the operation. Persistent plumbing and HVAC problems had generated hundreds of maintenance calls, and staff turnover was becoming a worry. Though the formal announcement to relocate the centre would not come until after the election period, the facility's condition and the difficulty of attracting workers to the site were already subjects of local discussion.

Education and health care rounded out the list of local priorities. Rapid population growth in the Fort Saskatchewan area strained school capacity and put pressure on the local hospital. In the rural eastern half of the riding, smaller communities dealt with the familiar challenges of physician recruitment, seniors care, and infrastructure maintenance on a limited tax base.