Livingstone-Macleod

Livingstone-Macleod stretches across the southwest corner of Alberta, where the Rocky Mountains form the riding's western border. The district takes in a wide swath of foothills and prairie, encompassing the towns of Fort Macleod, Pincher Creek, Claresholm, Nanton, Black Diamond, and Turner Valley, as well as the Municipality of Crowsnest Pass and the Piikani First Nation. Agriculture and ranching have long been the economic backbone of the region, though oil and gas activity and wind energy development have also shaped the local landscape.

Heading into 2015, the riding was held by Wildrose MLA Pat Stier, who had unseated Progressive Conservative agriculture minister Evan Berger in 2012. With the Wildrose caucus badly shaken by the December 2014 floor-crossing of leader Danielle Smith and eight other MLAs to the PCs, Stier—who had remained loyal to the Wildrose—faced a rematch against Berger under the PC banner, while the NDP and Liberals also fielded candidates in a province-wide wave of discontent with the governing Tories.

Candidates

Pat Stier (Wildrose) — Stier grew up on a ranch near DeWinton and brought 30 years of farming and ranching experience to the role. Before entering provincial politics, he spent 15 years in municipal government, including four years as a councillor with the Municipal District of Foothills No. 31 and co-chair of its Subdivision and Development Appeal Board. He also worked in the seismic data segment of the oil and gas industry for 25 years.

Evan P Berger (Progressive Conservative) — Berger was raised on a mixed ranch farm in the foothills southwest of Nanton and studied at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology before returning to agriculture. He spent nearly 16 years in municipal politics with the Municipal District of Willow Creek, serving nine years as reeve and chairing the Municipal Planning Commission and Agricultural Service Board. He represented Livingstone-Macleod as a PC MLA from 2008 to 2012, serving as Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, before losing to Stier.

Aileen Burke (NDP) — Burke ran as the NDP candidate in the riding.

Alida Hess (Liberal) — Hess carried the Liberal banner in the riding.

Local Issues

The June 2013 southern Alberta floods devastated parts of the riding. The Municipality of Crowsnest Pass, the towns of Black Diamond and Turner Valley, and communities in the Municipal District of Pincher Creek No. 9 all declared states of emergency, and the M.D. of Foothills No. 31 was also badly affected. Flood recovery and the question of how the province should invest in future flood mitigation infrastructure remained significant concerns heading into 2015.

Property rights and land-use decisions were perennial issues in the riding. Ranchers and rural landowners had long raised concerns about the balance between energy development and agricultural land preservation, and the expansion of wind energy projects in the Pincher Creek area added another dimension to the debate over rural property rights.

The late-2014 oil price crash also weighed on the riding's economy. While the communities in Livingstone-Macleod were less directly dependent on the oil patch than ridings farther north, many residents worked in oil and gas services, and the downturn rippled through the broader regional economy.