- Reaction score
- 5,572
- Points
- 1,260
Here is a report, reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions of the Copyright Act from the Globe and Mail, on the opening of the campaign:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/redfords-pcs-face-off-with-wildrose-party-as-alberta-election-kicks-off/article2381450/
I commented, almost a year ago that I liked what Danielle Smith has to say. It will be interesting to see how Alberta likes her.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/redfords-pcs-face-off-with-wildrose-party-as-alberta-election-kicks-off/article2381450/
Redford’s PCs face off with Wildrose Party as Alberta election kicks off
JOSH WINGROVE
Globe and Mail Update
Published Monday, Mar. 26, 2012
Alberta’s provincial election is underway, one that pits Premier Alison Redford’s Progressive Conservatives against, for the first time, a well-funded, well-organized right-wing challenger, Danielle Smith and her Wildrose Party.
Ms. Redford visited Lieutenant Governor Donald Ethell just before 10 a.m. local time Monday morning to suspend the legislative session, drop the writ and kick off the campaign. Shortly after, both she and Ms. Smith were giving speeches at the legislature before embarking on a campaign trail that will see both head south to Calgary before the day is out. The vote is scheduled for April 23.
The campaign will see both leaders claim to be an agent of change – Ms. Redford a centrist who has overhauled her venerable party since winning its leadership on Oct. 1 last year, and Ms. Smith a libertarian seeking to put an end to 41 years of consecutive PC rule in the province.
The party leaders stayed quiet early Monday morning awaiting the formality of an election call, but the campaign and attacks have already begun. Wildrose is targeting Ms. Redford, saying she’s a closet liberal who will raise taxes (a notion the premier has been coy about) and whose party has grown entitled and corrupt during its time in power.
A series of recent controversies will help Wildrose’s cause, including revelations that a PC-dominated committee hasn’t met in three years but has been paying its members (including three from Wildrose) $1,000 a month, records that show Ms. Redford’s party accepted donations from public institutions and outcry from doctors over the state of the health-care system.
Wildrose’s campaign has already released a glitzy attack ad and will be one built on attacking Ms. Redford and casting itself as the true conservative option. “Remember boys and girls ‘Progressive’ is code for Liberal,” on Wildrose supporter and former Tory wrote on Twitter Monday.
Ms. Smith, a 40-year-old former school board trustee and journalist, began by releasing her fundraising totals from her 2009 leadership campaign, one that saw her raise roughly half of her total of $487,748 from small donations. She hasn’t yet won a seat as an MLA.
“I am the leader of a party that is now capable of defeating the Progressive Conservatives and forming the next government,” Ms. Smith said in a party release. “We are going to be running a campaign on transparency, accountability and better democracy, and it has to start with me.”
Ms. Redford, meanwhile, has cast herself as a fresh start for her party – similar to a strategy employed by Ralph Klein two decades ago, one that saw him revive PC fortunes. The 47-year-old human rights lawyer, who was first elected in Alberta’s last vote four years ago, has an extensive party machine at her disposal, ample funding, well-known MLAs and had 66 of 83 seats when the writ dropped Monday. Wildrose had just four, three of whom ran as PCs in the last election.
“In the six months since I was elected Premier, we have introduced policies to bring discipline to spending, to support seniors and vulnerable Albertans, to enhance education, and to put health care on a better path forward. In this campaign, I will talk about how we build on those foundational policies, and how we embrace the energy and imagination of all Albertans to continue building the finest place in the world in which to live,” she said in a campaign statement Monday.
Speaking with reporters on the last day of the legislative session last Thursday, Ms. Redford said she worried about the negative tone Wildrose’s ad has already set the campaign. “You put yourself into politics, and that’s what it is. I worry a little bit about my family, but we’ll see,” said Ms. Redford, the mother of a nine-year-old girl. She was, however, eager for the campaign to begin. Asked by one reporter if she could “take” Ms. Smith in a debate, Ms. Redford smiled: “Oh yeah.”
The official opposition Liberals are expected to see their fortunes fall in the race, but will kick off their campaign at an Edmonton hotel on Monday afternoon. The two other major parties are the New Democrats and Alberta Party, a centrist upstart. Of the three, only the NDP have a full slate of nominated candidates and are poised to add to their caucus, which currently includes two MLAs.
“I’m very optimistic and excited about the opportunities for us,” NDP candidate Rachel Notley, one of the two incumbents, said last week. She shares Ms. Redford’s concerns about the tone of the campaign. “I don’t think we really need to have the debate to descend into the gutter. I think it’s better for us if Albertans get to hear a balanced assessment of all the different ideas of all the different parties, and I hope we don’t descend into an Americanized kind of campaign.”
I commented, almost a year ago that I liked what Danielle Smith has to say. It will be interesting to see how Alberta likes her.