A candidate in a previous Alberta Senate selection election is pleased the Kenney Government is taking steps to hold an election for future vacancies and only hopes the eligibility rules aren't too restrictive.

Cochrane's David Usherwood ran for the Senate in 2004 but dismissed the idea in 2012 when the price became too high. In 2004, he put down a $1,000 refundable deposit and had to collect a minimum of 1,500 nomination paper signatures (he actually collected over 1,800) in a matter of two weeks. For the 2012 vote, candidates had to produce a $40,000 nonrefundable deposit and he declined to run.

"If Premier Kenney is going to do it again it should be inclusive. People should be encouraged to run and they shouldn't make it prohibitively expensive. I believe the Senate can do good work but you can't make it a rich man's club."

Usherwood is a strong believer of a Triple E Senate--equal, elected and efficient--that was advocated by Bert Brown, who ran in the first three Senate nominee elections and was eventually appointed to the Senate by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in 2013.

Usherwood thoroughly enjoyed his run and would do it again if he was a bit younger. 

"I still care about the Alberta community and I think we need the new generation of young people involved," says the 74-year-old.

"I think candidates should be people who care and can stand up for the little guy. There's so much that can be done and needs to be done but so many are afraid to rock the proverbial boat."

"I'm not thinking radicalism, but thoughtful change and I think we're not getting that currently. It's a lot of groupthink."

Groupthink is said to be a method that discourages creativity or individual thinking.

Premier Ralph Klein announced the vote in 2004 after earlier dismissing the idea.

"He said no, then in September, something changed. He said we're going to have an election and we need candidates to step up immediately. I looked at my spouse and said, 'OK, I'm going to do it'."

"I did it because I believed I could make a difference and I believed in the people and my community, the entire Alberta community. I didn't win but it was a great experience and I hope Premier Kenney goes ahead with it."

Alberta remains the only province to hold selection votes for the Senate. They've held four to date, the first coming in 1989 under Premier Don Getty. Stan Waters won the race in 1989 and was subsequently appointed. The 1998 Senate election saw neither of the successful candidates appointed before their terms ended.

From the 2004 vote, all four elected candidates for Alberta eventually went on to be appointed to the Senate. At the time, Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin refused to appoint any of them but they eventually entered the "Red Chamber." 

Usherwood came a respectable sixth out of 10 candidates with 193,056 votes, 5.4 per cent shy of being in the top four. The NDP and Liberals both boycotted the election process because they believed it was tainted.

The last Senate election was held under Premier Alison Redford in 2012. Two of the top three were appointed to the Senate by Harper. The other, Mike Shaikh, has never been appointed.

On June 26, Kenney announced Bill 13, the Alberta Senate Election Act, will allow for Senate elections to be part of future provincial or municipal elections and can also be held as a stand-alone vote or be included with a referendum.

The next Alberta Senate vacancy will be in March 2021. The previous Senate legislation expired in 2016.