Calgary-Foothills byelection a close race, suggests Mainstreet poll

There appears to be a tight race in the byelection for the provincial seat in Calgary-Foothills.

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A Mainstreet poll suggests the Wildrose candidate Prasad Panda has a narrow lead at 23 per cent.

Bob Hawkesworth of the NDP is second at 20 percent and the PC candidate Blair Houston is in third at 16 per cent.

The race will also see Mark Taylor run for the Alberta Party, Ali Bin Zahid for the Liberals and Janet Keeping for the Green Party of Alberta.

"This race is going to be 100per centabout turnout," said Quito Maggi, president of Mainstreet Research, in a release. "With the parties currently polling so close together, within the poll's margin of error, this is going to be about who can bring the most voters out on Election Day."

The vote will be held on Sept. 3, and this will be the thirdtime people living in the riding will have to cast a ballot sincelast October.

The riding belonged toformer premierJim Prenticebefore he resignedtheseat in May right afterthe NDPwon the Alberta election.Prentice was firstelected to the Alberta Legislaturein the riding in abyelectioninthe fall of 2014.

The pollfoundthe single biggest issue in the riding is the economy.

Mainstreet surveyed a random sample of 543 Calgary-Foothills residents through a mix of landlines and cellphones on Aug.18.

The poll has a margin of error plus or minus 4.18 per cent, 19 times out of 20.