The Race For Calgary Bow

Alana DeLong (PC) has held this seat since 2001. In the last election, she beat Liberal challenger Kelly McDonnell by 2,585 votes. DeLong is seeking re-election.

The Candidates:
Alana DeLong (PC)
Greg Flanagan (Lib)
Teale Phelps-Bondaroff (NDP)
Randy Weeks (Grn)
Len Skowronski (SC)

There is no currently nominated Wildrose Alliance candidate.

If Brian Mason thinks his NDP has any chance at all in Calgary, this is the riding he's thinking of. This was the only riding in Calgary that drew over 1,000 votes for the NDP in 2004. The riding includes the community of Bowness, long a bastion of small-l liberal social ideals. Of note is the relatively low property value in the riding, which makes it an attractive place for newly-arrived residents of Calgary to buy or rent - a trend that could certainly affect the voting patterns of the area, in favour of the parties to the left. Mason's candidate is Teale Phelps Bondaroff, a 21 year-old university student who ran in the 2006 Federal election against Rob Anders in Calgary West.

Greg Flanagan has a son at the University of Calgary, and that's where the comparisons between he and Teale stop. Flanagan is an economist and public policy expert, having authored stacks and stacks of materials (and killing lord knows how many trees). He taught Economics at Mount Royal College for 16 years, and served as Assistant Dean in the Faculty of Management at the University of Lethbridge (Go Pronghorns!) and Dean of Studies at Calgary's St. Mary's University-College.

There is absolutely no information available on the Green candidate, Randy Weeks.

Len Skowronski is the leader of the Social Credit Party in Alberta, a post that he has held since being elected Leader in November of 2007. A former teacher, Len moved on to the oilpatch, where his training in mathematics helped him as a programmer, among other things. He later went on to take a lead role in the I.T. Consulting area with Deloitte & Touche in the Middle East.

Alana DeLong has served as MLA for Calgary Bow since 2001. She pondered a run for the PC Leadership in 2006, before backing out. Alana has served as a model of the so-called "Red Tory", being fiscally aware while at the same time agitating for attention to the social issues that plague her constituency. The voters of Bow have rewarded her with very strong mandates. An Information Technology guru, Alana is also an avid outdoors enthusiast, a veteran of stage (both acting and singing), and is quite possibly the only Calgary MLA to live in a log home - in Bowness, no less.