After stepping down for Poilievre to run, MP Damien Kurek lands role at government relations, lobbying firm
The Alberta MP who stepped down to allow Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre to run in his riding has a new job with a government relations and lobbying firm.
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We are excited to announce the newest member of our team, former Parliamentarian @dckurek!
Damien's deep roots in Alberta politics paired with his legislative experience make him the perfect fit to deliver strategic value to our clients in Western Canada. pic.twitter.com/UMSvGWaUsb
— Upstream Strategy (@upstream_group) July 4, 2025
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'There's no better time than the Calgary Stampede for me to join Upstream Strategy Group,' Kurek said in a Friday statement.
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'Just like the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth highlights our western heritage, I'm looking forward to helping organizations grow and succeed in Western Canada.'
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Upstream said Kurek brings extensive experience to his new role, pointing to his time as the Conservative party's Canadian Heritage critic in the last Parliament, as well as his time as the Environment and Sustainable Development committee vice-chair. Before he was first elected to the House of Commons, Kurek worked under former Battle River-Crowfoot MP Kevin Sorenson and in the Saskatchewan legislature while Brad Wall was premier, Upstream also noted.
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'Raised and still actively involved on his family's multi-generational farm near Consort, Alberta, Kurek brings a unique perspective on the needs of rural communities and industries vital to the Prairies' economy,' said the company, which has offices in Toronto and Regina.
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Globe and Mail
5 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
Alberta Insider: Advance voting begins in by-election that can return Poilievre to the Commons
Good morning! Wendy Cox here this morning filling in for a vacationing Mark Iype. Voters in Alberta's Battle River-Crowfoot riding have their first chance at advance voting today in a by-election that could return Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre to the House of Commons. Mr. Poilievre is widely expected to win. He's explicitly running in the seat far, far away from the Ottawa-area riding he had held for two decades but lost to the Liberals in the last election. Battle River-Crowfoot is considered one of the safest Conservative seats in the country. Damien Kurek won the seat with 82 per cent of the vote in April and had held it since 2019, but gave it up for Mr. Poilievre. Rather than marking an X, voters will have to write a name in a blank on their ballot, a first in a Canadian election. (Elections Canada assures misspelled names will still be accepted as a vote.) Some 214 candidates have signed up to run, many of whom don't live in Alberta, much less the riding, and most of them running with no intent to win on Aug. 18. The protest candidates are part of the Longest Ballot Committee, a group calling for changes to Canada's electoral system. This is the fourth time Alex Banks has run in an election – the first was last year in the Toronto-St. Paul's federal by-election. He told Globe reporter Emily Haws his participating is a fun form of protest for a cause he believes in. 'I thought it was a low-impact, high-visibility way' to protest in favour of electoral reform, he said. 'You're not shutting down streets. You're not interfering in people's daily lives, but you're clearly making a point.' The group contends that politicians face a conflict of interest in making election laws, and that those decisions should instead be made by an independent, non-partisan body such as a citizens' assembly. The committee itself does not have a demand for any particular set of election rules. Rather, it's a demand that politicians recuse themselves from the process. The ballot paper resulting from so many candidates would be so long as to gum up the process for counting ballots. The Longest Ballot Committee was once in league with Canada's long-standing satire party the Rhinoceros Party, which once had a campaign promise to repeal the law of gravity. (Columnist Campbell Clark described the Rhinos as the 'merry pranksters of Canadian politics.') In 2019, the committee said it wanted to set a Guinness Book of World Record for the longest ballot ever, but it fell far short: The Guinness Book lists the record at 1,187 candidates, who ran in the Prague municipal elections in 1994. But Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault is not amused. He has been outspoken about long ballots, which he says create confusion for voters and challenges in counting and processing results. Perrault has called for the federal government to bring in penalties for individuals who are responsible for stacking ballots with independent candidates. The Globe's editorial board is even less amused, writing that the group 'is weaponizing the good intentions underpinning electoral rules, which are meant to give candidates a relatively easy path to get on the ballot.' To get on a ballot, candidates need the signatures of at least 100 voters – only 50 in some ridings – and have an official agent to file paperwork. Living in the riding isn't mandatory, a good thing for Poilievre. The Globe notes the committee has been able to round up so many candidates in part by having voters sign multiple nomination papers. The group's spokesperson, Tomas Szuchewycz, was listed as the official agent for 199 nominations as of Monday. Candidates don't have to do the work of convincing their fellow Canadians; the committee does it for them with a copy-and-paste system. But the voices of actual independent candidates get drowned out, the editorial board argues. Independent candidate Bonnie Critchley pleaded with the group in May in a Facebook post not to bring its disruptive campaign to Battle River-Crowfoot. 'Your actions make it impossible for electors to be able to find anyone who isn't attached to a party,' she wrote in an open letter on Facebook. 'You are further pushing us into a party system.' The editorial board concludes that far from the fun Mr. Banks appears to be having, the Longest Ballot Committee is conducting 'electoral sabotage.' This is Alberta newsletter written by Alberta Bureau Chief Mark Iype. If you're reading this on the web, or it was forwarded to you from someone else, you can sign up for it and all Globe newsletters here.
Toronto Star
5 hours ago
- Toronto Star
Alberta's Longest Ballot byelection is a protest for what politicians' fear — electoral reform
Long-ballot protest group signs up more in Alberta byelection featuring Poilievre, July 22 The Longest Ballot is not a prank, but a political protest designed to highlight our flawed electoral system and underscore the need for electoral reform. By using the loophole of non-resident candidacy, Pierre Poilievre is desperately circumventing our system of local representation. Fine for him to crawl through this loophole but when others follow suit he screams foul, even though he set the example.
CTV News
8 hours ago
- CTV News
‘It was really easy': Alberta byelection advance polls open with more than 200 candidates
Residents of Battle River-Crowfoot began casting advanced votes in the byelection where over 200 candidates are registered. CTV's Kathy Le has more. Residents of Battle River-Crowfoot began casting advanced votes in the byelection where over 200 candidates are registered. CTV's Kathy Le has more. Advanced polls open in Battle River-Crowfoot for byelection, as Poilievre hopes to win seat A steady stream of people have shuffled in and out of the lone advance voting station in Drumheller, Alta., one of the towns in the sprawling rural riding of Battle River–Crowfoot, where federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre hopes to win and restore his position in the House of Commons. The voters CTV News spoke with say the process has been easy. 'It was pretty straightforward. I had done my preparation. I knew where the different candidates were coming from,' said Roger Hanm. Another voter, Brad Luchak, was in agreement. '(It was) really easy today,' he said. 'It was no problem at all.' There are 214 candidates registered in the byelection, making it the largest number of candidates on a federal ballot in Canadian history. Those running include Poilievre, Liberal candidate Darcy Spady, NDP candidate Katherine Swampy, Jonathan Bridges of the People's Party of Canada, Ashley MacDonald of the Green Party and independent candidate Bonnie Critchley. To ensure the voting process goes smoothly, Elections Canada created an adapted ballot, meaning for the first time ever, voters must fill out a blank ballot with the name of their preferred candidate. Voter Thomas Laffin says they had references to ensure they got the name of the candidates spelled correction. 'You've got your big book there on the side that has all the 214-some-odd names, and then they have the small one that has the ones that are connected to a party,' he said. The majority of candidates running in the traditionally Conservative Alberta riding are sponsored by the advocacy group the Longest Ballot Committee, who are protesting the First-past-the-post (FPTP) system and wanting electoral reform. The group ran a campaign in Poilievre's former Ottawa-area riding of Carleton, where he lost his long-held seat during the general election in April. The ballot had 91 candidates. The Conservative leader is looking to get back into Parliament, given a chance after former MP Damien Kurek, who won the riding in a landslide with 83 per cent of the vote, stepped aside. Lori Williams, political scientist at Mount Royal University in Calgary, says it's expected that Pierre will win the byelection. 'Nobody's expecting him to lose the by election. But if he doesn't win it by close to 83 per cent, then questions are starting or going to start being raised,' she said. 'That will feed into his return to the house in the fall and into his leadership review in the new year.' Poilievre has long expressed frustration about the Longest Ballot Committee, calling its actions a 'blatant abuse' of electoral democracy. During an unrelated press conference in Calgary Thursday, the Conservative leader said his party is proposing to change electoral laws to 'make sure that this longest stunt never happens again. While voter Adrine Giles thought the voting process was simple, she wasn't too keen with all the candidates running. 'I wasn't happy to have, you know, so many candidates. It's just not really a good idea. You just confuse people,' she said. Giles wouldn't reveal who she voted for, but confirmed it wasn't Poilievre. 'We need a local person to represent us,' she said. 'We're not going to see him. He's not going to do anything for us here.' Some other voters, like Art Bonaguro, disagree. 'I know he doesn't live in the riding, but the leader of the party really needs a seat in the house to do anything,' he said. 'So that's where my vote went.
