Albertans will go to the polls twice this year to vote for the next provincial and federal governments – though neither have set dates yet.
What is known is the campaigning will be fierce on both fronts. Premier Rachel Notley’s NDP, according to the polls, are light years behind Jason Kenney’s United Conservative Party who hold a 25-point lead over the beleaguered ruling party.
The NDP never had it easy. Out of the gate, the party was thrust into one of the worst energy price collapses in Alberta history and the province was hit hard as unemployment soared and revenues tanked. The government’s choice to move forward with their campaign promises of increasing minimum wage, instituting a carbon tax, eliminating the flat tax, conducting a review on the oil and gas sector’s revenue model were viewed by many as multiple nails in the coffin of a struggling economy.
While there are arguments in favour of those moves, a lot of the changes were a case of too much, too soon and not at the right time considering the economic landscape.
However, that is not an endorsement of the UCP, who might be in the same boat as NDP in 2014 – locked into winning an election just because of who they are not.
Granted without the election writ being dropped, there isn’t much out there on the UCP’s full campaign strategy. What has been said does raise a lot of questions though. It has been suggested should the UCP be re-elected the party would reinstate the flat tax, eliminate the carbon tax and possibly change or repeal the minimum wage increase. It has also been floated that the UCP would freeze spending or cut it by billions.
Reducing government spending sounds great on the surface, but what is going to be cut? Eliminating taxes also sounds good in principle, unless it means paying elsewhere instead. The UCP’s carbon tax plan also relies heavily on the Conservatives being elected federally, otherwise the province will have a costly legal battle to fight Ottawa on imposing the federal version of the tax on Alberta.
Then there is the question of the UCP’s social politics, which are muddy at best. This will be perhaps the area that will make or break the UCP’s campaign. It’s upcoming statements on the environment, human rights – especially when it comes to women, the LGBTQ2+ community, Indigenous Albertans and immigrants.
As with every election the future direction of the province is at stake and voters have the final say. With that in mind, it is important not only to cast a ballot but to do so informed.
While we can’t tell people to get off Facebook during an election campaign, we can suggest thoroughly going through the campaign literature of each party and deciding based on that and not the most condemning meme that jumps onto your feed.
