In less than three weeks Yellowhead voters will head to the polls, to pick a replacement for the riding’s recently departed, long-time representative, Rob Merrifield.
Four candidates have thrown their hats into the ring for the Nov. 17 byelection, and without a single day of experience in federal parliament between them, voters face a difficult and important decision.
To help our readers stay informed, the Fitzhugh spoke with the candidates, delving into their histories, ideas and motivations for running. Read up on each of them below.
EDITOR'S NOTE: A fifth candidate entered the race after the Fitzhugh's press deadline and was not included in our initial coverage. A profile of independent candidate Dean Williams has since been added.
Independent candidate: Dean Williams
Dean Williams has made a career of telling people’s stories, and he hopes to take the skills he’s learned straight to Ottawa, where he can share the concerns of the Yellowhead riding with the powers that be.
Williams is a documentarian who grew up in Whitecourt. He returned to his hometown three years ago after many years in Vancouver and a few in Whitehorse.
During his time away, he obtained a degree from the Vancouver Film School, taught at the school, made a documentary about the Yukon snow carving team and acted in a number of Canadian television shows and films, including the 2011 film The Mountie.
He returned to Whitecourt out of a desire to spend more time with his aging grandparents, who still reside in his hometown. When he arrived, he started a media consulting company.
“The bulk of my filmmaking career and almost half of my life now, I’ve been making documentaries—I’ve been telling other people’s stories,” he said, adding that that’s his intention with running in the Nov. 17 byelection.
“I’m a good observer, I’m a good listener and I’m a good reflector and that’s exactly what’s necessary right now in Ottawa. We need an MP that’s going to go around, collect everybody’s stories and opinions and take those and reflect those in Ottawa.
“I think I’m the ideal candidate. That has always been my job, to listen to people and reflect their stories and opinions.”
Williams said he put his name forward as an independent candidate because he feels the Yellowhead riding is looking for a change, and its constituents are unlikely to vote for a party that isn’t conservative.
“People in the Yellowhead riding, specifically, they come from conservative values,” he said, noting that he and his family do as well. But, Williams said, he is displeased with the Harper government and he thinks many people in the riding are as well.
“The Conservative valued people of Yellowhead, they don’t want to go to a different party or a different colour per se, that’s why ... right now our motto is ‘buck the colours.’”
Williams admits that he doesn’t have political experience and even said being Yellowhead MP isn’t necessarily “a job I really want,” but he said the status quo won’t do and he’s ready to do something about it.
“I think we all just want to see some changes and I think we agree we’re not going to see those changes, or any changes, under the current government.”
Liberal candidate: Ryan Maguhn
If you had to pick a theme for Ryan Maguhn’s campaign for the Yellowhead riding, “grassroots democracy” would be a pretty good choice.
The Hinton town councillor and high school teacher is a strong believer in ground-up politics, and his history is indicative of that.
Even his profession—high school teacher in the very town where he grew up—reflects that sensibility.
“Really, the school is a place that is very formative for [young people], and it’s just great to be a part of that experience. It’s just something that I’m very honoured to do,” he said of his job at Gerard Redmond Community Catholic High School.
“I love teaching. I love working with the youth of our communities, and just engaging with them on a daily basis, and bringing them into the community.”
Teaching has been in Maguhn’s blood since he was young, when he trained fellow young Canadians as a Chief Warrant Officer with the Royal Canadian Army Cadets.
The cadets, Maguhn explained, offered the perfect opportunity to combine two of his major areas of interest—public service and military service—and it was his time there that pushed him along his path to becoming a teacher.
After graduating, he took a few years off to get his head straight, working at a local video store, before eventually hoofing it to Minnesota to pursue his teaching degree.
While in university, he lobbied on behalf of the Minnesota State College Student Association, which gave him further appreciation for grassroots politics.
He might have stayed in the States, too, but after graduation—when he had been teaching for about six months—he came home for a wedding.
Thanks to “sheer luck and good timing,” he snagged an interview, and not long after began working as a social studies teacher at Hinton’s catholic school.
“I’ve always loved Hinton, it’s always been my hometown. So having the opportunity to not only grow up here but have my career here is hugely something I was appreciative of,” he said.
Maguhn added that he thinks the Yellowhead riding needs to be represented by someone with deep roots here, and he believes he has them.
With no experience in federal politics, Maguhn admitted if he is elected it would take some time to adapt, but he said that it would be “service for the greater good,” something he is excited to offer his country and riding.
Conservative candidate: Jim Eglinski
Jim Eglinski knew since he was a boy that he wanted to join the RCMP. As a young kid, he picked up on the way members of his community held Mounties in such high regard.
“I’d be sitting there as a young person, and the RCMP would come in and I was really inspired by the respect that the older people showed to them—and the respect that they gained from the public. And I said, ‘you know that’s what I want to be; that’s what I want to do,’” he recalled.
He was so keen that at 18 he passed the test to get into the force, but couldn’t actually join until after his 19th birthday.
He talks with fondness about his 35 years there, even though his retirement came at a very painful time in his life. A month after he retired, he lost his wife to cancer.
“It was a tough time in my life, and I took the summer off to just kind of find out where I was going—feeling myself out,” he said.
After some soul searching he realized he needed to stay active with the public, because until that time, he had always been involved to whatever extent possible.
Friends encouraged him to run for council and he was quickly elected, taking a seat in Fort St. John’s city hall.
“And then it was just a natural transition from there to mayor,” Eglinski said.
After he lost his bid for reelection, Eglinski worked contract jobs for a few years, before he and his second wife moved back to Alberta to be closer to their grandchildren. They now call the Edson area home.
Before throwing his hat in the ring to try for the Yellowhead seat, Eglinski was the riding association president for the Conservative Party for Yellowhead.
Aside from his love of public service, Eglinski said he entered after outgoing MP Rob Merrifield asked him to.
“I love my public service, and it just gives me an opportunity to do something I’ve always loved.”
He did admit that, with no political experience at the federal level, he would have quite a learning curve ahead of him were he to get elected.
“I do realize my first time in Ottawa, I’m going to be sitting in the back row. I’m going to be listening; I’m going to be learning; I’m going to be picking up the skills of other MPs and seeing which is the best way of doing things,” he said.
Libertarian Party candidate: Cory Lystang
It’s not often a political candidate totes his lack of experience as a selling point, but as far as Cory Lystang is concerned, it’s one of the best things he has to offer.
“I’m kind of one of them guys that just puts everything out there for people to see,” he said. “I’m not a professional, and I don’t have someone writing my speeches for me. I’m just trying to be as honest as possible, because that is what I think the government should be based on.”
Lystang thinks the government is broken, and he believes that if more ordinary people like him stepped up, they could change things. He stressed the government is an important part of society, but thinks it should be smaller, and less involved in people’s lives.
The Libertarian Party candidate is an oil worker who comes from four generations of Mayerthorpe cattle ranchers. His great grandfather arrived in Canada in the 1800s, and ever since he established his cattle farm, each successive generation of Lystang set out to do the same.
“That was going to be what I did for the rest of my life, too,” Lystang explained.
But when he left high school, prices were so bad he decided to take a job in the oil fields and “make my millions and buy my father out in a few years,” he joked.
It’s been 22 years since he set himself that goal, and while Lystang doesn’t have a farm of his own, he still owns some cattle that he pays his father to keep for him.
Lystang is committed to the idea of self-sufficiency. When he’s not working, he hunts, fishes, camps—even makes his own sausages. He also owns his own land, where he and his wife keep a vegetable garden.
“In the end I would still like to be able to have some land and live off of it. Because as far as I’m concerned, that was the way I wanted to live.
“I wanted to be able to have my children run out the door and go see their dad in the field.”
Lystang recognizes that not everyone has the chance, but that those who do should work towards being more self-sufficient. The more people can take care of themselves, he said, the less the government has to do it for us.
If he’s elected, he said he will try to make that a reality.
“All I really want to do is be an actual voice, and try to get something really done.”
NDP candidate: Eric Rosendahl
After sitting as the NDP’s riding association president in the Yellowhead for a decade, Eric Rosendahl has made the leap, putting his name up as a candidate for federal parliament.
It’s the first time the former mill worker has run in a federal election, and he said he made the decision because he wants to clean up “the mess that the Conservatives are creating in Canada.”
Born and raised on a Saskatchewan family farm, Rosendahl left his hometown to attend college in Vermillion, where he studied renewable energy and conservation.
He graduated in 1973, and soon after he landed a position as an officer in Alberta’s provincial parks.
It was seasonal work, and after several years of the hiring/layoff cycle Rosendahl needed a change. One summer he worked at William A. Switzer Provincial Park just outside of Hinton and “just fell in love with the area.”
Later, at the request of his wife (then his girlfriend) he moved back to Hinton, beginning his career with the West Fraser pulp mill, where he worked for 34 years as a steam engineer, before retiring about five years ago.
Throughout his career Rosendahl remained heavily involved in the union, and he continues to fight for workers’ rights today, staying involved in union committees, as well as acting as the president of the Yellowhead Labour Council.
During his retirement he has also stayed involved in a myriad of organizations, many associated with unions and the labour movement.
“The list is as long as your arm. Not that I’m blowing my own horn or anything, but now that I’ve retired I’m very busy,” he said.
He is the president of the Hinton Fish and Game Association, works with the Alberta Hunters Instructors Association, and subs as a bus driver for Hinton schools. He’s also involved with the Search and Rescue Association of Alberta.
Midway into his listing of all these organizations, Rosendahl broke into laughter.
“I guess my nickname is Mr. Meeting—a lot of people tell me that.”
Rosendahl believes all of his experience, as well as his training through his union, makes him an ideal candidate for the Yellowhead riding.
“I have fought for the rights of working people for my whole life, [and] you will be able to count on me to fight for you and your family,” he wrote in a recent statement.
Check back with the Fitzhugh each week until the byelection to read each candidate’s thoughts on some of the most pressing issues in the Yellowhead riding, and Jasper in particular.
Trevor Nichols
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