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<\/p>\nA sitting Calgary city councillor is setting his sights on the Alberta legislature and seeking a provincial nomination in a local suburban riding.<\/p>\n
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Ward 13 Coun. Dan McLean<\/a> announced Friday that he is seeking the nomination for the governing United Conservative Party<\/a> (UCP) in the riding of Calgary-Shaw.<\/p>\n The south Calgary suburban riding is currently represented by former cabinet minister Rebecca Schulz<\/a>, who announced her resignation<\/a> from cabinet in December with plans to vacate her seat next month.<\/p>\n McLean was unavailable for an interview Friday, but said in a video posted to social media that he was encouraged to run because residents want a continuation of \u201cthe strong, principled leadership\u201d Schulz demonstrated since she was first elected in 2019.<\/p>\n \u201cI believe the time is right to continue serving but this time at the provincial level,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n McLean was first elected to Calgary city council in 2021 and quickly branded himself as a \u201ccommon sense conservative\u201d voice, often opposing property tax increases and city spending.<\/p>\n However, McLean was reprimanded and sanctioned multiple times during his first term after being caught attending a council meeting remotely from a golf course<\/a>. He also agreed to meet with a circle of Indigenous elders after videos surfaced on social media<\/a> in 2022 allegedly showing McLean engaging in racist stereotypes and mocking Indigenous people.<\/p>\n McLean said he had \u201czero recollection\u201d of the videos, but later apologized.<\/p>\n He was re-elected in October\u2019s municipal election as a member of the Communities First party, and garnered more than 65 per cent of the vote in a two-candidate race. McLean currently serves on the Calgary Police Commission as well as several city committees, including as chair of the intergovernmental affairs committee.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tGet daily National news<\/p>\n Get daily Canada news delivered to your inbox so you’ll never miss the day’s top stories.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know me as a fighter at city hall,\u201d McLean said in his video. \u201cFor the past five years, I\u2019ve stood for common sense, for fiscal responsibility, for safer communities and you\u2019ve seen how those values have often put me at odds with the progressive left and the NDP.\u201d<\/p>\n Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas said that while he\u2019s committed to \u201cstay out of party politics,\u201d he\u2019s appreciated McLean\u2019s leadership on city council.<\/p>\n Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s been a great constituency representative. He got the largest share of votes of any of the council colleagues that I get to work with,\u201d Farkas told reporters Friday.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s been a leader on financial responsibility, on public safety, and I certainly wish him the best in his endeavours there.\u201d<\/p>\n A byelection for Calgary-Shaw hasn\u2019t been called, but provincial law requires one to be called six months after Schulz\u2019s departure.<\/p>\n According to the UCP, a nomination contest for the riding hasn\u2019t yet been called.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen a nomination is called, we will first inform our membership and post the details on our website. Eligible members will then have 14 days to apply to contest the nomination,\u201d a party spokesperson said.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter that, we will announce the names of those who are contesting, and a vote will be held between 21 and 35 days following the close of nominations.\u201d<\/p>\n Duane Bratt, a political scientist at Mount Royal University in Calgary, said McLean does have a shot at winning.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s a high-profile conservative; this is a safe conservative seat,\u201d Bratt said. \u201cThe nomination will be a bigger fight than winning the election.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore on Canada It appears that the fight has already begun, with opponents of McLean\u2019s candidacy creating a website dedicated to ensuring he stays on city council.<\/p>\n Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n \u201cJust because he sees an opportunity for himself doesn\u2019t mean he should let down the voters,\u201d said Craig Chandler, who co-created the website. \u201cHe made a promise to people and he\u2019s not keeping that.\u201d<\/p>\n Chandler is backing Mike Derry, another candidate who is seeking the UCP nomination in Calgary-Shaw.<\/p>\n \u201cHearing other folks actually run gets me out of bed every day to work harder,\u201d Derry told Global News.<\/p>\n Although several former Calgary city councillors have sought a seat in Alberta\u2019s legislature, McLean is believed to be the first sitting councillor to do so since 2009, when his predecessor Diane Colley-Urquhart ran for the governing Progressive Conservative Party in a byelection in Calgary-Glenmore.<\/p>\n Colley-Urquhart, who served as city councillor for Ward 13 between 2000 and 2021, finished third in the race and was re-elected to city council the following year.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is not unusual, but what is a bit unusual is the fact that he\u2019s a sitting councillor and a sitting councillor who was only re-elected about six months ago,\u201d Bratt said.<\/p>\n According to the Alberta Election Act, a municipal councillor may take an unpaid leave of absence to run for a provincial nomination and in a byelection.<\/p>\n However, the Municipal Government Act states sitting counicllors must resign if they are elected to the Alberta legislature.<\/p>\n Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n In a statement, McLean called the next provincial election \u201ccritical,\u201d and that his track record \u201cwill be an asset to the UCP.\u201d<\/p>\n The next provincial election is scheduled for October 2027.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t5:32 \n\t\t© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A sitting Calgary city councillor is setting his sights on the Alberta legislature and seeking a provincial nomination…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":644408,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194293],"tags":[78630,49,2798,71388,177137,48,195434],"class_list":["post-644407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-calgary","tag-alberta-politics","tag-ca","tag-calgary","tag-calgary-city-council","tag-calgary-city-hall","tag-canada","tag-dan-mclean"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=644407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644407\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/644408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=644407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=644407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=644407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Get](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1767930311_275_national.jpg\")
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