UCP, NDP campaigns underway weeks before official writ drop
CBC
Alberta election campaigns are usually 28 days long but everyone knows the campaign is already well underway two weeks before the vote is actually called.
Premier Danielle Smith's matter-of-fact answer at a news conference last Friday shows how longer campaigns have become the norm.
After announcing reporters would only get one question at her news conferences, Smith was asked why she was changing the long-standing practice of allowing them to ask a follow-up.
"It's an election, that's why," Smith replied, adding that this would allow more outlets to get questions to her in the coming weeks.
Technically it isn't an election. At least not yet. The date — May 29 — is set by legislation. The campaign doesn't officially start until May 1 when Smith said she will call the election.
But campaigning is already underway. The opposition NDP has held campaign-style news conferences for months. Now the governing UCP is holding events.
Smith appeared at a party news conference in Sherwood Park on April 11, where she pledged that no one would have to pay out of pocket for medical care
Two days later, Smith spoke to members of the St. Albert Chamber of Commerce. She used part of her speech to praise two local UCP MLAs running for re-election and offer a thinly-veiled dig at the NDP.
"Do we want to continue building a strong, stable Alberta, an Alberta focused on growing the economy and job creation and ensuring families can pay their bills?" she asked the luncheon crowd.
"Or do we want to go back to high taxes and more red tape that would drive businesses and investment away and make life more expensive for Albertans?"
Earlier in the day, Smith met with Mayor Cathy Heron and the rest of St. Albert city council for an hour, something her predecessors never did, Heron said.
"She's been very generous with her time in St. Albert," Heron told CBC News afterwards. "She's learned a lot and hopefully we will be on her radar in the future."
While Smith courted favour in the Edmonton donut — the nickname for the suburban ridings that extend past city limits — NDP leader Rachel Notley made a quick visit to northern Alberta where she stopped in Slave Lake and Grande Prairie.
Notley downplayed the significance of the visit when asked by a reporter.