[1] The safe seat was held by the Conservative candidate Glen Motz on a reduced majority.

The riding has been held by centre-right parties since Bert Hargrave defeated Liberal incumbent Bud Olson, himself a former Social Credit MP, in 1972.

The seat was vacated on March 23, 2016, when Conservative Party of Canada MP Jim Hillyer died in his office following a heart attack.

Retired Medicine Hat Police inspector Glen Motz[1] defeated businessman Brian Benoit, former Cardston-Taber-Warner and Calgary-Glenmore MLA Paul Hinman, lawyer Michael W. Jones, and party worker Joe Schow for the Conservative nomination, which was held in late June.

[4] Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA Drew Barnes, former Medicine Hat MLA Blake Pedersen, and Dan Hein, Hillyer's closest competitor for the nomination in 2015, all declined to run for the Conservative nomination despite speculation to the contrary.