Several high-profile candidates are running in the Edmonton-McClung riding this election.

Candidate Lorne Dach is hoping to hold onto his seat for the NDP.

“Very privileged to have served the last almost four years as the MLA for Edmonton-McClung, something I’ve wanted to do since I was quite young,” Dach said.

“And I’m running hard to make it happen again.”

Before politics, Dach sold real estate in the area for about 30 years.

“I’m not nervous at all. I’ve been in this game a long time myself and I’m well known in the community and I think that people recognize the work we’ve done under Rachel Notley’s leadership in the last four years,” said Dach.

He’s being challenged by a very recognizable Edmontonian and the leader of the Alberta Party, Stephen Mandel.

“It’s different because I have to perform two functions: One I have to be the leader of the party so I’m travelling around the province, and two, I have to work hard in my riding of McClung to, you know, get the message out that I’m running and the platform of the party.”

Mandel is a former mayor of Edmonton, and conservative MLA. This time around, Mandel said he couldn’t support the UCP or NDP’s ideas.

“I saw the Alberta Party as the answer for what I can say is a balance between social responsibility, fiscal responsibility and I hope we deliver that kind of philosophy, that kind of ideals,” said Mandel.

The UCP has also recruited an accomplished candidate for the riding.

Laurie Mozeson worked as a federal and provincial prosecutor for 20 years, and spent another 20 years as a sitting Justice of the Peace in the Provincial Court of Alberta. She was then appointed as a Citizenship Judge in northern Alberta and the Northwest Territories until she retired in 2015. She said it is her kids and grandkids that inspired her to enter politics for the first time.

“That’s actually what brought me to running because I was concerned about the future for my children and grandchildren and the NDP debt,” Mozeson said.

She has been door knocking for the past five months and said jobs and taxes are what concern residents in the riding the most.

“I’ve lived in this community for 35 years but when I go to the doors and hear of jobs, the economy, the pipeline, the carbon tax, there’s a lot of work we have to get done in Alberta and Jason Kenney’s United Conservative Party is the party to get that done,” said Mozeson.

Mandel and his team have also heard about these issues.

“People are really concerned with the future of the province, jobs, and I think people are just generally fearful of what the future’s going to hold,” said Mandel.

While Lorne Dach said constituents also refer to the election as only a two-party race.

“They know it’s a race between Rachel Notley and Jason Kenney, and very seldom does any other option come up, and if it does, they are reminded that voting for anybody else might just by accident elect Jason Kenney.”

But Mandel is optimistic not only in his riding, but for candidates across the province.

“If the number of people that we hear are undecided by now, they don’t like UCP or don’t like the NDP, we’re the only option. So we think we have a good opportunity,” Mandel said.

“You can only work hard and hope people believe in your values and what you say and support you,” he added.

The fourth candidate in the riding is Gordon Perrott of the Alberta Advantage Party.

You can find more information on all four candidates here.