There’s a third candidate in the race to lead the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta, as another cabinet minister has declared his intention to run for the party’s top spot.
Thomas Lukaszuk, most recently Minister of Jobs, Skills, Training and Labour, announced Thursday outside of a downtown Edmonton coffee shop that he is planning on running for leadership of the PC party.
The announcement came after Lukaszuk had a brief meeting with Premier Dave Hancock, where he officially resigned his cabinet post.
Lukaszuk joins former federal cabinet minister Jim Prentice, and former Infrastructure Minister, and Calgary-Hays MLA Ric McIver, in the race for party leadership.
Despite having three candidates in the race – one political expert still considers Jim Prentice to be the front-runner.
“It is still a one-horse race for the most part,” Bob Murray with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy said.
Murray pointed to the visible support Prentice received Wednesday when he officially launched his campaign – as for Lukaszuk, Murray said he is known to Albertans, and that could be an advantage.
“There’s really very little tangible success that Prentice is able to look to,” Murray said. “Lukaszuk has an established record, for better or for worse that he’s going to be able to run on.”
Nominations opened May 15, both McIver and Prentice picked up their documents that day – Prentice is the only candidate so far to have completed the forms and turned them in.
Candidates have until May 30 to complete the nomination process.
With files from Bill Fortier
