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Alberta Party MLA Karen McPherson says she won’t run in spring election

EDMONTON — One of the key candidates for the Alberta Party in the upcoming election has announced she won’t be running.
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EDMONTON — One of the key candidates for the Alberta Party in the upcoming election has announced she won’t be running.

Karen McPherson, legislature member for Calgary-Mackay-Nose Hill, says the demands of public life are too much as she works to balance work with her family life.

McPherson says in a publicly issued letter that she has struggled with anxiety and depression during her four years at the legislature.

She says she also has had to cope with her father’s death and is helping her mother recover following cancer treatments.

McPherson was elected to the legislature for the NDP in 2015, but left the caucus in 2017 and later joined the Alberta Party.

She said at the time that the polarization of partisan political debate was squeezing out common-sense solutions and she needed the freedom to speak her mind.

McPherson is one of three Alberta Party members in the legislature and was being counted on to help lead what the party hopes will be a breakthrough in the spring election.