Residents of four Alberta ridings were casting their ballots Monday, in what some say is the first chance for Albertans to issue a report card to the governing PCs since Premier Jim Prentice was elected by Progressive Conservative Party members.

By the end of the day Monday, voters in Edmonton-Whitemud, and in three Calgary ridings: Calgary-Elbow, Calgary-Foothills, and Calgary-West will have decided whether the Premier and two of his cabinet ministers will have a seat in the legislature when the session begins November 17.

In Edmonton-Whitemud, the health minister is seeking election; the candidates for that byelection are as follows:

  • Tim Grover – Wildrose Party
  • Rene Malenfant – Green Party of Alberta
  • Stephen Mandel – Progressive Conservative Party
  • William Munsey – Alberta Party
  • Bob Turner – Alberta New Democrats
  • Donna Wilson – Alberta Liberal Party

For the Health Minister to have a seat in the legislature, Mandel must win Monday’s vote.

It appears the race has prompted a high voter turnout – nearly 9,700 voters cast their ballot in the advance polls leading up to Monday, with the highest participation in Edmonton-Whitemud.

In the lead-up to the vote, health care has dominated the campaign trail, with the Liberals and the NDP running candidates with experience in health care – and Monday saw most candidates out in the community in a final push to get the vote out.

“The Conservatives have messed up so badly that everything I hear at the doorstep is ‘Give me another choice other than the Conservatives, anything but Mandel’,” Turner said.

“You have Mandel, and then you have Hancock’s old riding, so we really had to work very hard and push a ball up a hill,” Grover said.

Meanwhile, one political scientist said the Wildrose Party could be a problem for the PCs.

“Mandel is going to be having a problem with the Wildrose, because the Wildrose could syphon off votes from the traditional Tory bastion,” Political Scientist Chaldeans Mensah said. “The thing to watch out for is how well the Wildrose does in this election.”

As for the Health Minister, Mandel has drawn from the PC Party throughout the campaign, with high-profile PC MLAs lending a hand.

“This has been an incredibly well-run, above the board campaign that’s focused on getting across issues to people and deal with things in a very expeditious way,” Mandel said.

The Premier is running in Calgary-Foothills, while Education Minister Gordon Dirks is seeking election in Calgary-Elbow.

The polls close at 8 p.m., confirmed results are expected by 10 p.m. according to Elections Alberta.

With files from Serena Mah and Laura Tupper