Walter Richard Szwender is a former provincial level politician and teacher from Alberta, Canada. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1982 until 1986.^[1]

Political career

Szwender ran for a seat to the Alberta Legislature and was elected to the electoral district of Edmonton-Belmont in the 1982 Alberta general election. He held the seat for the governing Progressive Conservative caucus.^[2]

He ran for a second term in office in the 1986 Alberta general election but was defeated in a closely contested race by New Democrat candidate Tom Sigurdson. Szwender finished second out of six candidates.^[3]

Szwender would face off against Sigurdson three years later in the 1989 election in an attempt to retake Edmonton-Belmont and he was once again defeated, this time by a larger margin.^[4]

He would attempt another come back to the Alberta Legislature by running in the 2004 provincial election in Edmonton Decore as a last minute replacement after it was revealed that the nominated candidate Ray Hajar was a convicted criminal, and had years of unpaid alimony. Swzender ran against incumbent MLA Gary Masyk. Both Masyk and Swender were defeated by Liberal candidate Bill Bonko.^[5]

Szwender is a high school teacher.