Morinville-St. Albert

Morinville-St. Albert sits on Edmonton's northern fringe, blending the suburban growth of St. Albert's northeast quadrant with the small-town character of Morinville, Bon Accord, Gibbons, Legal, and Redwater, plus surrounding agricultural areas in Sturgeon County. The riding was created in the 2017 redistribution and first contested in 2019, when Dale Nally won it for the UCP. Between elections, Nally was appointed Minister of Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction under Premier Smith. The community of Morinville was shaken in June 2021 when the historic St. Jean Baptiste Catholic Church, a 114-year-old landmark that had defined the town's skyline, was destroyed by an arson fire amid national tensions over the legacy of residential schools.

Candidates

Dale Nally (United Conservative) — The incumbent MLA, first elected in 2019. Before entering politics, Nally spent decades in the private sector, culminating in a senior director role at Loblaw Companies and holding a Master of Distance Education from Athabasca University. As Minister of Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction from October 2022, he oversaw regulatory streamlining initiatives. He represented the St. Albert portion of the riding.

Karen Shaw (NDP) — A cattle farmer from the Redwater area who served four terms as a Sturgeon County councillor representing Division 6 from 2007 to 2021. Shaw brought fourteen years of municipal government experience, including work on intermunicipal planning, infrastructure, and agricultural policy. She won the NDP nomination in May 2022.

Wayne Rufiange (Alberta Party) — The Alberta Party candidate in Morinville-St. Albert.

Kurt Klingbeil (Green Party) — The Green Party candidate in the riding.

Local Issues

The destruction of St. Jean Baptiste Church in the early hours of June 30, 2021, was a defining event for Morinville during the inter-election period. The fire, investigated as arson, occurred amid a wave of church vandalism across Canada following the discovery of unmarked graves at former residential school sites. The loss of the church — named for Father Jean Baptiste Morin, who led Francophone settlers to the area from Quebec in 1891 — devastated the community. Residents mourned the disappearance of its thirty-metre steeple from the skyline, and plans for rebuilding became a significant local undertaking.

Transportation infrastructure continued to be a pressing issue. The Highway 2 and Cardiff Road interchange, a project that had been promised for over a decade, remained a source of frustration for commuters travelling between Morinville and Edmonton. Population growth in the corridor placed additional pressure on roads, transit connections, and emergency response capacity. St. Albert's northeastern neighbourhoods were expanding rapidly, straining municipal services and raising questions about school construction and recreation facilities.

Healthcare access was a major concern across the riding. Residents in the rural communities of Sturgeon County faced limited local options for primary care, and family physician shortages meant longer waits or travel to Edmonton. The pandemic had underscored these gaps, and voters in both the urban and rural portions of the riding expressed anxiety about the trajectory of the public health system. Nally pointed to red-tape reduction measures aimed at speeding up credentialing for healthcare workers, while Shaw argued that years of underfunding had created the staffing crisis.