Calgary-Foothills

Situated in Calgary's far northwest, Calgary-Foothills encompasses a mix of fast-growing communities along the Symons Valley corridor, including Sage Hill, Nolan Hill, Sherwood, and Kincora, alongside somewhat more established neighbourhoods such as Edgemont, Hidden Valley, and Hamptons. The district's population surged throughout the 2010s as developers pushed the city's suburban boundary northward, and by 2023 the riding was home to a young, family-heavy demographic with significant South Asian, Filipino, and Chinese communities. Jason Luan had held the seat since 2019 after a political comeback, having previously served as MLA for Calgary-Hawkwood before losing in the 2015 NDP sweep.

Candidates

Court Ellingson (NDP) — A former vice-president of strategy at Calgary Economic Development, Ellingson brought deep experience in economic diversification and investment attraction. Originally from Victoria, British Columbia, he had spent years working to position Calgary as a hub for technology and innovation. He was one of three openly LGBT members elected to the Alberta legislature in 2023.

Jason Luan (United Conservative)* — A social worker by training with a Master of Social Work from the University of Calgary, Luan served as Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions under Premier Kenney from 2019 to 2021, then as Minister of Community and Social Services, and was later appointed Minister of Culture by Premier Danielle Smith in October 2022. His tenure in the mental health portfolio drew criticism after controversial social media posts questioning naloxone distribution and supervised consumption sites.

Local Issues

The pandemic years tested the UCP government's relationship with northwest Calgary's suburban voters in ways that the 2019 campaign could not have anticipated. Luan's role in the mental health and addictions portfolio placed him at the centre of debates over the government's approach to the opioid crisis, which worsened substantially during the COVID-19 lockdowns. Opioid-related deaths in Alberta surged from 2020 onward, and the government's emphasis on recovery-oriented care over harm reduction drew both support and criticism, depending on the household.

School capacity remained a persistent frustration. The communities of Nolan Hill and Sherwood continued to grow rapidly, and the Calgary Board of Education reported unprecedented enrolment increases across the city, with the total rising by over 7,000 students in the 2022-2023 school year alone. Parents in the riding's newer subdivisions often faced long bus rides for their children or overflowing classrooms in nearby schools, and the pace at which new school construction kept up with residential development was a constant source of complaint.

Healthcare access proved particularly challenging in the riding's outlying communities. The family doctor shortage that gripped Alberta meant that residents in Nolan Hill, Sherwood, and Kincora often had to travel significant distances just to see a physician. Transit connections to major hospitals were limited, and the broader strain on Alberta Health Services, including long ambulance response times that had prompted province-wide alarm in late 2022 before the government's Health Care Action Plan began to bring some improvement, weighed on voters across the northwest.