Calgary—Hays

Calgary—Hays is a provincial electoral district in Calgary's deep southeast, encompassing the communities of McKenzie Lake, McKenzie Towne, Quarry Park, Douglas Glen, and Douglasdale. The riding underwent boundary changes ahead of the 2019 election, losing some northern neighbourhoods to the newly created Calgary—Peigan district. Incumbent MLA Ric McIver, first elected to the seat in 2012 under the Progressive Conservatives, was seeking his third term, now under the United Conservative Party banner. McIver had served as interim PC leader after Jim Prentice's 2015 defeat and was one of the most experienced conservative politicians in the province.

Candidates

Ric McIver (United Conservative) — A veteran of Calgary politics, McIver served three terms on Calgary City Council from 2001 to 2010, representing Ward 12 and chairing the Calgary Housing Company. He entered provincial politics in 2012, defeating the sitting PC MLA to win the nomination in Calgary—Hays, and served as Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure under Premier Redford and later as Minister of Jobs, Skills, Training and Labour under Premier Prentice before the 2015 NDP victory.

Tory Tomblin (NDP) — Tomblin was a primary care paramedic with Alberta Health Services. She had previously been a candidate for the Calgary Board of Education in Wards 12 and 14 during the 2017 municipal election.

Chris Nowell (Alberta Party) — Nowell carried the Alberta Party standard in Calgary—Hays, offering voters a centrist alternative in one of the city's most reliably conservative districts.

Local Issues

Quarry Park's transformation from a former gravel pit into a mixed-use live-work community was one of the riding's most visible developments during the NDP years. The Remington Development project brought office towers, the Remington YMCA (which opened in 2016 with a pool, gym, fitness centre, and public library), and upscale residential construction to the southeast. By 2018, new luxury townhome projects were under construction, and the community was projected to eventually house close to 10,000 residents alongside 18,000 workers. The development reshaped traffic patterns and raised questions about road capacity on routes feeding into Deerfoot Trail.

McKenzie Towne and McKenzie Lake, which together formed the population base of the riding, were well-established suburban communities by 2019. McKenzie Towne, designed as an experiment in new-urbanist planning in the mid-1990s, had won international awards for its design. Both communities relied heavily on automobile commuting, and residents consistently raised concerns about traffic congestion, particularly at Deerfoot Trail interchanges. The southeast Bus Rapid Transit project, which included three new transit-only bridges, was under construction along 17 Avenue S.E. by late 2018, promising improved transit access to the area.

The economic downturn remained the dominant concern. Many residents in these communities had careers in oil and gas or related professional services, and the prolonged recession that began in 2014 hit the riding's demographics squarely. The carbon tax and the broader direction of NDP economic policy were prominent topics at doorsteps across the district.