Actor Dakota House, best known for his role on the CBC television series “North of 60,” is taking the leap into Alberta politics.
House, who is 44, is to represent the Alberta Party in the Peace River constituency.
In a video posted on his Facebook page, House says he believes in Alberta Party Leader Stephen Mandel, and adds the party is committed to consulting with Albertans before making changes.
“North of 60” ran in the 1990s and chronicled the lives of Indigenous people in the fictional town of Lynx River, N.W.T.
House appeared in subsequent movies based on the series, worked on other movie projects and had guest roles on TV shows, including “The X-Files.”
He has also been a motivational speaker for youth and has written a children’s book called “Dancers In the Sky.”
In his Facebook video, House says he wants to push back against the cynicism undermining trust in politics.
“We don’t want a promise because promise has lost all merit. That word doesn’t even really mean anything when it comes to politicians today because we’ve been listening to the same things over and over and over again.”
House will face United Conservative candidate Dan Williams in the sprawling northern Alberta riding. The incumbent, NDP member Debbie Jabbour, has not indicated whether she is running again.
Jabbour edged the Progressive Conservative candidate in 2015 to win the riding.
The Conservatives have since merged with the Wildrose Party to form the United Conservatives, and those two parties combined took more than half the votes in Peace River in the last election.
The 2015 Alberta Party candidate, Sherry Hilton, finished last with less than four per cent of the vote.
Albertans will head to the polls sometime this spring when Premier Rachel Notley decides to drop the writ. By law, the election must be held before the end of May.
Under Mandel, a former PC cabinet minister and mayor of Edmonton, the Alberta Party is making a strong push to escape the fringes of the province’s political landscape.
It plans to run a full slate of candidates. In 2015, it had nominees in fewer than half the constituencies, won one seat and captured two per cent of the overall vote.
Dean Bennett, The Canadian Press
