Calgary-Edgemont

Perched on the elevated terrain of Calgary's outer northwest, Calgary-Edgemont offers sweeping views of the Rocky Mountain front range to the west and the city skyline to the southeast. The riding takes in the communities of Edgemont, Hamptons, Dalhousie, Hawkwood, and Ranchlands, a mix of 1970s-era established suburbs and newer developments that filled in through the 1990s. Tree-lined streets, community sports fields, and proximity to Nose Hill Park give the area a family-oriented character. Many residents are professionals with backgrounds in engineering, geosciences, and project management, reflecting Calgary's deep ties to the energy sector. The riding was created in the 2017 redistribution, and UCP incumbent Prasad Panda — a veteran MLA first elected in a 2015 by-election — sought a third term after serving as Infrastructure Minister and then Transportation Minister in the Kenney government.

Candidates

Julia Hayter (NDP) — An educational assistant with the Calgary Board of Education, Hayter previously worked for non-profit organizations supporting individuals with disabilities and served as a constituency assistant to former NDP MLA Stephanie McLean. She holds a developmental disability certificate from the College of New Caledonia in Prince George, BC. Hayter chaired and vice-chaired her children's school council from 2017 to 2019 and ran as the NDP candidate in this same riding in 2019, earning 34 percent of the vote in that contest.

Prasad Panda (United Conservative)* — A professional engineer with 28 years of energy-sector experience at companies including Suncor Energy and Reliance Industries, Panda was first elected in a 2015 by-election in Calgary-Foothills and moved to the newly created Calgary-Edgemont for the 2019 general election. He served as Infrastructure Minister from 2019 to 2022, overseeing the province's capital plan including pandemic-era stimulus spending, before being moved to the Transportation portfolio in a 2022 cabinet shuffle.

Local Issues

Health care access emerged as a major concern in Calgary-Edgemont between 2019 and 2023. The family physician shortage that spread across Alberta hit suburban ridings hard, as doctors who retired or relocated were not replaced. Residents reported being unable to find a family doctor accepting new patients, forcing reliance on walk-in clinics and urgent care centres. The broader emergency room crisis — underscored by open letters from Calgary ER physicians warning of system collapse — resonated with families who had experienced long waits firsthand.

Transit and commuter infrastructure remained a practical concern. Communities like Edgemont and Hamptons sit at the far edge of the transit network, and bus connections to the Crowfoot or Brentwood CTrain stations added significant time to downtown commutes. Residents pushed for better service frequency and eventually a rapid transit connection through the north-central corridor, but no firm commitments materialized during the inter-election period.

The energy sector's trajectory was deeply personal in a riding full of engineers and geosciences professionals. While oil prices recovered strongly after the 2020 crash and industry profits surged, the sector's pivot toward capital discipline meant fewer jobs even as revenues grew. The transition debate — between maintaining traditional oil and gas employment and investing in renewable energy and technology — played out at kitchen tables across Edgemont, Dalhousie, and Hamptons.