Highwood MLA Wayne Anderson has fired the first shots as the campaign for the UCP nomination for the riding heats up.

With Carrie Fischer and Former Highwood PC Riding Association President R.J. Sigurdson joining Contain-A-Way Owner Dean Leask against Anderson trying to get the nod, the sitting MLA says he finds it ironic that Fischer and Sigurdson are after the nomination, considering they were against the PC/Wildrose merger from the start.

"During the leadership and the unity campaign, neither one of them were in favour of the unification of the conservative movement, and nor were they in favour of the current leadership movement. So, it's kind of ironic that we've now unified the party and I've done all the heavy lifting to bring the conservative movement together, now they want the job."

During the UCP leadership campaign, Anderson was a supporter of failed leadership candidate and former Wildrose Leader Brian Jean, who eventually lost the job to current UCP Leader Jason Kenney.

Anderson says he's unsure of Fischer's motives in seeking the nomination.

Fischer, who was a Town Councillor in Okotoks, ran against Anderson as a PC in the 2015 Provincial Election and then unsuccessfully for the Mayors Chair in Okotoks last October.

"My understanding was she still wants to be Mayor of Okotoks, so I'm not clear on what her political intentions are. Whether it's for name brand recognition or not. And then Mr. Sigurdson was the President of the PC Party here in Highwood. But, was a very inactive board. Didn't raise any funds. They weren't really meeting on a formal or regular basis."

Anderson says he thinks the competition is great and makes for a healthy democratic process.