Morinville—St. Albert

Morinville—St. Albert is a riding north of Edmonton created in the 2017 boundary redistribution from parts of the former Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock and Athabasca-Sturgeon-Redwater ridings, along with a portion of St. Albert. The constituency covers the northeast section of the city of St. Albert beyond Boudreau Road, the communities of Morinville, Legal, Bon Accord, Gibbons, and Redwater, and the portion of Sturgeon County east of Highway 2. As a newly created constituency, it had no incumbent heading into the 2019 election.

Candidates

Dale Nally (United Conservative) — A St. Albert resident who worked as Senior Director of Learning and Development at Loblaw Companies Limited. Nally held a Master of Distance Education from Athabasca University and had spent decades in the private sector. Earlier in his career, he had been a spokesperson for Canada Post.

Natalie Birnie (NDP) — The executive director of the Acheson Business Association, a position she had held since 2010. Birnie had over 30 years of involvement in small business in Alberta, having owned and operated retail, manufacturing, and trades businesses in Edmonton and Parkland County. A former longtime Conservative supporter, she said she had been drawn to the NDP after finding the previous government unresponsive on local infrastructure issues such as highway twinning and overpasses.

Neil Korotash (Alberta Party) — The Alberta Party's candidate in the newly created Morinville—St. Albert riding.

Local Issues

Transportation infrastructure was a pressing concern in the Morinville—St. Albert riding. The intersection of Highway 2 and Cardiff Road in Sturgeon County had long been identified as a dangerous bottleneck, with RCMP flagging it as a trouble spot after multiple fatality and serious-injury collisions. Drivers turning left off Cardiff Road had to cross two lanes of high-speed highway traffic, creating hazardous conditions. A new interchange had been announced by the previous PC government, but the project was repeatedly delayed by budget constraints, leaving commuters relying on temporary traffic signals. The stalled infrastructure project was a source of frustration for residents who commuted daily between Morinville and Edmonton or St. Albert.

Intermunicipal planning and governance was another significant issue in this multi-community riding. Sturgeon County, the City of St. Albert, the City of Edmonton, and the Town of Morinville were engaged in developing a framework to resolve intermunicipal land-use disputes, a process driven by the NDP government's modernization of the Municipal Government Act. Morinville's town council was also working on its downtown revitalization plan, debating commercial development requirements including building height mandates and parking configurations that some business owners felt could deter investment.

As a riding that straddled the urban-rural divide, Morinville—St. Albert voters grappled with issues affecting both communities. Rural residents in Sturgeon County were concerned about the carbon tax's impact on agricultural operations and rising rural crime, while St. Albert residents focused on healthcare access, school construction, and the region's rapid population growth putting strain on municipal services.