Harvey Nahirniak walks towards his cattle paddock, his high rubber boots covered with rich and black earth.
Cows, sprinkled with mud, snorted in the heat of the afternoon. His beloved battle horses are found as statues, while the fat and white guard dog, Marvin, shadow pants.
Nahirniak’s experience is found in crops and cattle. His family has cultivated the same stretch of land in the drowsiness of Round Hill, Alta., For generations.
The electoral signals, many conservative blue, splashed the edges of the roads of the hills that surround their property in the heart of the driving of the feet of the Battle River, where a paralyzed choice is underway.
While at first he relied to talk about politics, Nahirniak has reached some solid conclusions about the unusual federal career that is now being carried out within the vast Federal District that calls home.
“I have the feeling that we are going to lose part of our representation,” said the 78 -year -old man. “I think we are at the loser end.”
Advanced surveys in the election opened on Friday with a special vote to accommodate the record number of candidates competing against conservative leader Pierre Poilievre. Voters are aimed at surveys on August 18.
Nahirniak believes that Pailievre will sweep the partial choice, but is not sure that residents like him will benefit from change.
“You will not have time to listen to our problems because, being in your position in Ottawa, you simply will not have time. We had someone who was available all the time and they say it will not change, but we know it will do it.”
From Ottawa to Alberta
The Pailievre path back to the House of the Commons crosses the vast driving and the more than 4,000 farms that operate within its limits through East Alberta, South and Center.
The conservative parliamentarian Damien Kurek, a former farmer, resigned to allow Pailievre to execute as one of the 214 candidates in what is the greatest federal vote in Canadian history.
Most candidates on the electoral ballot are associated with a group of defenders of the electoral reform known as the longest voting committee.
Kurek served as MP between 2019 and 2025.
During a campaign stop in Calgary last week, Pailievre said he is enjoying his time in the vast heart of Alberta meadow.
He praised the farmers and industry workers and military members of the region and spoke about the anger that many constituents feel towards the treatment that Alberta has received from the reigning liberals in Ottawa.
He said he would fight for a “better treatment” for Alberta, with an approach to a greater production of resources.
“I love the campaign,” he said.
“I’m really having a lot of fun. I love the people of Battle River-Coot. They are the people who feed, enhance and protect our country.”
Pailievre has been well received in the campaign, in car shows, community events and candidate debates, and has strong support in the conservative fortress.
‘Color coded’
Nahirniak, however, said that residents of agricultural communities such as Round Hill no longer feel a priority for federal conservatives.
The region has always been painted with conservative blue, but for some like Nahirniak, its loyalties have begun to change, he said.
He describes the vote full of people as a sad mockery of the electoral process and suggests that federal policy “has left side” and becomes too adverse.
“We grew up being coded by colors,” he said. “And if you voted for someone else, you almost felt like a rebel.”
“But it’s changing. They are not giving us the same coverage that used.”
Agriculture is the financial spine of working driving, with wheat, canola and livestock industries that lead the workforce, along with a flourishing oil and gas industry.
Economic pressures on the agricultural sector remain the most important among residents who make a living from the earth.
The producers who spoke with CBC News shared their feelings of disappointment about the race and their need for greater federal support, since Alberta farms face greater financial uncertainty.
A ‘stone fur’
Nicola and Alan Irving, owner of Irving’s Farm Fresh, moved to the county more than 20 years ago and shortly after their pig operation began.
It is a small -scale operation, with 60 to 80 pigs from Berkshire of Corral that roam the family farm.
The couple, native to Cumbria in England, processes the meat of their butcher shop in place to a variety of special meat products that sell suppliers and markets in Alberta.
Although Nicola Irving, 55, moved to the country decades ago, still feels a bit like a strange policy.
Irving describes herself as a lifelong conservative, but she feels in conflict about how the race has taken shape.
She questions if Pailievre is really committed to constituents or if driving is a “springboard.”
“My head tells me to do one thing, my heart tells me to do something different,” he said about his pending choice at the polls.
“In this driving, there are so many voters out there that they are not necessarily looking at the name. They simply vote for blue. They vote conservatives, regardless of who it is.”
No matter who wins, Irving said that his federal representative “does the right” for her constituents and focuses on fiscal responsibility and reduces internal commercial barriers.
While tariffs have not yet hit their business, he said that uncertainty is disturbing.
A short distance by car, Humphrey Banack, 67, stands back to the sun, under a row of silver silver silos on guard over its expansive fields of Canola, now passed from yellow to green.
He is preparing to reap for the end of the month, a family ritual after decades working on his third -generation family farm, established in 1906.
The operation, which includes his brother, nephew and son, extends through 8,000 acres of land carved with canola and wheat, along with barley, oats and linen.
He has been tune in the political talk during the race and recently attended the forum of a candidate to listen to the final launch of 10 candidates.
He said that the lack of commercial stability is the biggest challenge facing farmers, with tariffs that put producers to the limit and make it difficult for them to reach a fair price for their products.
Banack identifies himself as conservative and said that the region has been well represented by the party.
However, doubt that the elections will significantly change things for residents.
For him, Pailievre’s victory is an inevitable conclusion. While the race puts the driving in the center of attention for now, hopes that the brightness will fade once a result is known.
He said he does not expect a Victoria Pailievre to put the concerns of mounting the residents “on a pedestal”, despite what some conservative supporters believe.
“What conservative we have representing us in Battle River-Cowot will not matter,” said Banack.
“The only person who will win this is Mr. Poilievre.”
Banack said the campaign has brought frustration to driving, and fueled the support for the separation of Alberta, divisions he has seen in the recent candidate debates and in his own family table.
Back in the Nahirniak farm, the campaign division is clear.
On coffee on his porch, Marjorie Nahirniak, Harvey’s wife, said she is happy that the race has forced the needs of local producers and their families in the center of attention.
“This area is pleasant and green … but not everything is lovely,” he said.
“And I hope Poilievre enters because I don’t think a name is not effective at all. And it is then our responsibility to keep it in line.”
Meanwhile, his son, Kyle Nahirniak, who has now begun to take the reins of the family farm, feels disappointed by federal politics.
Agriculture, he said, has become more demanding as changes in the market and commercial volatility make the profit margins more and more thin.
He said Ottawa needs to safeguard economic stability with a greater approach to Canadian self -sufficiency, especially in agricultural production.
He is not sure that Pailievre will be attentive to those challenges, but does not believe that conservative voters in the region are influenced.
“This is the easiest way to return home, what I understand, but it doesn’t seem like a particularly inspiring path,” he said.
“Traditionally, I would be a conservative, but I don’t see things anymore.”
