By Laine Mitchell (Twitter: @Laine_Mitchell)

Boitchenko joins UCP nomination race in Drayton Valley – Devon

Jul 26, 2018 | 12:10 PM

A second candidate is seeking the UCP nomination for the Drayton Valley – Devon constituency.

Andrew Boitchenko will challenge MLA Mark Smith, who has held the riding since being elected in 2015.

Boitchenko first got his feet wet in the political world a couple years ago while involved in then UCP leadership candidate Jason Kenney’s campaign.

Boitchenko arrived in Canada from Odessa, Ukraine in 1992 at the age of 16 with his family where they bounced around Canada until moving to Edmonton in 1996.

There he attended NAIT, becoming a carpet layer then starting his own renovation company before moving into real estate and land development.

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He added that ever since the current government gained power, things went down for him and the province.

“Three years ago, a new government came in and business went down. You couldn’t make money.”

His brother had an oil company north that suffered due to tax hikes, eventually forcing him to pack up his company and move it over to Australia.

Boitchenko says that really kick started him into wanting to make a run in the political sphere.

“I said instead of running away from Alberta, I’m going to try and bring my business expertise into the party that was taking shape. I like looking out for Albertans,” Boitchenko went on to say “I built my business by working hard, and that is how I want to run my campaign.”

He believes that Alberta does need to diversify it’s economy, looking towards the tecnology and cannabis sector especially for those advancements.

“We have as a province have a backbone that is oil and gas, but we need electronics, programming as well as hemp and cannabis industries as well.” 

He said that throughout the campaign trail he has heard people worried about rural crime, safety as well as ambulance services. Business owners as well have expressed their displeasure with the carbon tax.

The nomination will be held on August 28 and 29.

The next provincial election is expected to take place in May 2019.