Calgary-North

Occupying the north-central portion of Calgary on either side of the boundary between the northwest and northeast quadrants, Calgary-North encompasses Beddington Heights, Huntington Hills, Sandstone Valley, Country Hills, MacEwan Glen, and Hidden Valley. The riding was re-established for the 2019 election after having been abolished in 1971, combining pieces of former constituencies into a district that blends 1960s-era suburbs with developments built as recently as the 2000s. First-term UCP MLA Muhammad Yaseen, a retired petroleum engineer with four decades in the oil industry, sought re-election in what proved to be one of the closest races in the province.

Candidates

Muhammad Yaseen (United Conservative)* — A professional engineer registered with APEGA, Yaseen spent 40 years in Alberta's petroleum sector, retiring after a lengthy career with Imperial Oil that spanned reservoir engineering, joint ventures, and advisory roles. He holds a petroleum engineering degree from the University of Wyoming, a civil engineering master's from the University of Calgary, and an MBA from the University of Phoenix. Active in community organizations including the Canadian Red Cross, the Pakistan Canada Association, Junior Achievement, and the Calgary Food Bank, he served as MLA from 2019 and was appointed Associate Minister of Immigration and Multiculturalism under Premier Smith.

Rajesh Angral (NDP) — The president, CEO, producer, and host of Sabrang Radio 94.7 FM, Angral also served as president of the Punjabi Council of Commerce in Calgary. He had conducted hundreds of political interviews with major media outlets including CBC, Global TV, and CTV, and organized multicultural and sporting events throughout the city. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he leveraged international business networks to help secure N95 mask supplies for Canadian frontline workers.

Local Issues

Calgary-North's patchwork of older and newer communities created a two-track infrastructure challenge. In Beddington Heights and Huntington Hills, where many homes dated to the 1960s and 1970s, aging water mains, crumbling sidewalks, and outdated community recreation facilities demanded capital investment. Further north, in Country Hills and Sandstone Valley, the infrastructure was newer but transit connections remained thin, and families in these areas relied heavily on automobiles to reach the CTrain system.

The riding's significant South Asian and Middle Eastern populations made immigration policy a salient issue. Yaseen's appointment as Associate Minister of Immigration and Multiculturalism gave him a direct role in provincial immigration programs, credential recognition initiatives, and settlement services. The rapid growth of Alberta's population in 2022 and 2023, driven by both international immigration and interprovincial migration, placed additional pressure on housing, schools, and healthcare in the riding's communities.

Healthcare dominated the campaign. The family doctor shortage was felt acutely in north-central Calgary, where patients at walk-in clinics routinely faced long waits and where the nearest major hospitals were Foothills Medical Centre to the west and Peter Lougheed Centre to the east. The provincial government's Health Care Action Plan, which launched in November 2022, showed some improvement in ambulance response times and emergency department waits by early 2023, but many residents felt the healthcare system remained in crisis. The razor-thin 113-vote margin by which Yaseen held the seat reflected the intense competition in a riding where no single issue or demographic bloc was dominant.