Peace River

Peace River encompasses a vast expanse of northern Alberta, from the agricultural corridor of the Peace River valley through boreal forest to communities near the Northwest Territories border. The riding includes the towns of Peace River, High Level, Grimshaw, and Manning, the village of Rainbow Lake, and the farming community of La Crete, home to one of Canada's largest Mennonite settlements. Numerous First Nations reserves are scattered throughout the constituency. Dan Williams won the seat for the UCP in 2019, defeating the NDP incumbent by a comfortable margin, and was appointed parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Culture during his first term.

Candidates

Dan Williams (United Conservative) — The incumbent MLA, first elected in 2019. A La Crete resident, Williams had previously worked as a political staffer for Jason Kenney in Ottawa before relocating to the Peace River region. During his first term, he served as parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Culture and for la Francophonie, working to connect with Alberta's Francophone communities. He was widely expected to receive a cabinet appointment if re-elected.

Liana Paiva (NDP) — A teacher who had lived in Peace River since 2008 and was active in her community. Paiva said she was motivated to run by concerns about the provincial school curriculum and the state of healthcare in northern Alberta.

Conrad Nunweiler (Independent) — An independent candidate in the Peace River riding.

Local Issues

Healthcare remained the most critical concern across the Peace River riding heading into 2023. The vast distances between communities and healthcare facilities — the Northwest Health Centre in High Level and the Peace River Community Health Centre being the primary hospitals — meant that any staffing disruption had outsized consequences. During the pandemic, northern Alberta experienced acute strain on its limited medical infrastructure, and physician recruitment to remote communities remained a persistent challenge. Residents in places like Rainbow Lake and La Crete faced hours-long drives for specialist appointments, and emergency medical services were stretched thin across the riding's enormous geography.

Wildfires posed a growing threat to northern communities during the inter-election period. The 2023 wildfire season, which began before the May 29 election, forced evacuations across northern Alberta and underscored the vulnerability of communities surrounded by boreal forest. Emergency preparedness, evacuation infrastructure, and the capacity of provincial firefighting resources became urgent campaign topics, particularly for residents of High Level, which had experienced a major wildfire evacuation in 2019.

The riding's resource-based economy saw mixed fortunes between 2019 and 2023. Oil and gas operations in the Peace River oil sands benefited from the recovery in commodity prices after the 2020 crash, but labour shortages hampered the rebound. The forestry sector, centred on the Mercer Peace River pulp mill, remained a significant employer. Agricultural producers in the Peace valley and around La Crete dealt with drought stress in 2021 and high input costs thereafter. The federal carbon tax remained deeply unpopular across the riding, and the UCP's opposition to Ottawa's emissions policies resonated with voters in a constituency where livelihoods depended heavily on resource extraction and farming.