2023 Election
Alberta Campaign Roundup – Day 17
From the Alberta Institute
Campaign Roundup – Day 17:
- The details for the debate showdown between Rachel Notley and Danielle Smith are now finalized. It will take place tomorrow night at 6:00 pm. The debate will be hosted by Global and CTV, and televised on a wide range of channels as well as online.
- At the Alberta Institute, we launched our second annual Alberta Policy Survey. We’d love to get your opinion on what issues are most important and what solutions should be proposed to solve them. Filling out the survey will only take about 5 minutes, but will really help our researchers decide where we should focus our attention as an organization.
- The NDP said that family farms need a break and reiterated that their plan to eliminate the small business tax will apply to family farms. Perhaps that will help farms break even (unlikely) when they are forced to pay WCB premiums for family members who pitch in and higher carbon taxes?
- Rachel Notley also announced that Albertans would have access to $10 per day childcare by the end of 2024, including after school care.
- UCP Candidates Demetrios Nicolaides (Calgary-Bow) and Devin Dreeshen (Innisfail-Sylvan Lake), took questions from the media in Calgary. They said that, with a conservative government in Ottawa and Alberta, there will be no more carbon tax.
- Dreeshen also reminded Albertans that the NDP were responsible for an increase in monthly power bills by speeding up the phase-out of Alberta coal power plants. He opposed their plan to move the electricity grid to net-zero by 2035, saying it would drive up prices even further.
- Calgary Sun columnist Rick Bell wrote a piece about a recent conversation with Danielle Smith. In the article, Smith says that the NDP are trying to fool people into thinking they’re moderates and that Rachel Notley is only pretending to be a progressive conservative. She said that the NDP is not moderate – they’re ideological.
- Danielle Smith also attended an event in Medicine Hat, which she said drew a crowd of more than 300 people at noon on a workday.
- NDP candidates David Shepherd (Edmonton-City Centre) and Cam Heenan (Leduc-Beaumont), held a press conference to announce the party’s plan to reduce EMS response times. They announced increased funding for EMS and better working conditions for paramedics.
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Alberta Premier Danielle Smith responds to a question during a news conference after a meeting of western premiers, in Whistler, B.C., on Tuesday, June 27, 2023. CBC News is retracting a report from January alleging someone in Premier Danielle Smith’s office emailed prosecutors to question the handling of cases involving a COVID-19 protest at a U.S. bordering crossing. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
By Dean Bennett in Edmonton
CBC News is retracting a report alleging someone in Premier Danielle Smith’s office emailed Crown prosecutors to question and challenge the handling of cases involving COVID-19 protests in Alberta that blocked traffic at a U.S. border crossing for more than two weeks.
CBC made the announcement Wednesday in an unsigned editor’s note atop an amended online version of the original Jan. 19 story.
“Our sources have insisted that Crown prosecutors felt political pressure regarding the Coutts, (Alta.), cases, but they are not able to confirm that the emails they originally described were sent directly from the premier’s office to the Crown,” said the editor’s note.
“As such, we have updated this story and related pieces, removing references to direct contact between the premier’s office and prosecutors — which the premier has vehemently denied.
“CBC News regrets reporting direct contact by email.”
The story, along with public comments made by Smith around that time, sparked months of controversy, accusations, investigations and threats of lawsuits that culminated in an investigation and subsequent May 18 report by ethics commissioner Marguerite Trussler.
In that report, Trussler found no evidence of such emails but, based on other information, concluded Smith broke ethics rules and sought to undermine the rule of law by trying to persuade her then-justice minister to make a COVID-19-related criminal prosecution “go away.”
Smith had challenged the veracity of the CBC email claims from the start, noting officials could find no evidence of such correspondence and that CBC News itself had stated it had not seen the emails in question.
CBC stood by its reporting for months, but in Wednesday’s note stated Trussler’s finding of no evidence to support the existence of the emails prompted it to review the matter anew and reach a new conclusion.
Smith’s office has threatened to sue the CBC for defamation for months over the story, but has yet to formally launch a claim. Smith recently said she wanted to sit down with CBC officials to explore the matter.
Smith stood in the chamber of the legislature last month and formally apologized for her Jan. 6 phone call to then-justice minister Tyler Shandro in which she sought to have him abandon the criminal prosecution of COVID protester Artur Pawlowski.
Shandro refused to intervene and Pawlowski was eventually found guilty of mischief.
Smith has since asked new Justice Minister Mickey Amery to give her guidelines on how she is to interact with him on legal matters.
Smith has said she will also act on Trussler’s recommendation to have new members to the legislature receive briefings on how the separation of powers works in Canada’s democracy.
Her office declined Wednesday to comment on the CBC retraction, state whether the meeting with CBC officials took place, say if Smith still planned to sue or say whether the updated guidelines from Amery had arrived.
CBC spokesman Chuck Thompson said in a statement that the public broadcaster has not met with Smith.
“The editor’s note was published after reviewing all of our journalism and talking again to sources,” Thompson said.
“As you can appreciate, it’s not our place to speak for the premier on what she may or may not do (regarding a lawsuit).”
The Opposition NDP, meanwhile, asked RCMP in a letter last month to investigate whether Smith’s actions violated Criminal Code provisions surrounding breach of trust and obstructing justice.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 5, 2023.
Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley gives her concession speech in Edmonton on Monday, May 29, 2023. Notley says she has not made a decision on her political future following a second consecutive election loss by her New Democrats. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson
By Dean Bennett in Edmonton
Alberta Opposition Leader Rachel Notley says she has not made a decision on her political future following a second consecutive election loss by her New Democrats.
Notley said she will think about her role as the party analyzes what went right and wrong in the campaign, and added there is no timeline for a decision.
“When I’ve made a decision, when I’ve reached a conclusion, I will be sure to let Albertans know,” Notley told reporters outside the legislature Tuesday.
“As of now, my No. 1 priority is to do the work Albertans have asked of us and nothing less. That is our intention as a caucus, and that is what my plan is as leader.”
It was the first time Notley spoke with reporters since the May 29 election.
Notley’s NDP won 38 seats in the 87-seat legislature, becoming the largest official Opposition in Alberta history, but failed to win back government from Premier Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Party.
Notley said while the result was disappointing, her party made tremendous strides.
“More than 740,000 Albertans gave us their vote,” said Notley.
“Of 1.7 million votes, about 2,600 actually decided this election. It was that close.”
The 2,600 votes refer to close losses in key ridings that could have put the NDP over the top.
“I’ve been leader in this party when it had four seats, when it had 54 seats, 24, and now 38,” Notley said. “In every single election, our vote has gone up. It went up in nearly every rural riding, whereas UCP (vote) did not.”
The NDP swept the UCP in the 20 seats in Edmonton, won 14 of the 26 seats in Calgary, but were dominated outside the major centres by the UCP, which won 49 seats to form government.
“We captured ridings we’ve never held before. We defeated several high-profile UCP (cabinet) ministers and, frankly, we very nearly overturned the government,” Notley said.
She said her caucus is to meet in the coming days to hash out critic roles and responsibilities
The policy goals, Notley said, will be to push Smith’s government to reduce long waits for care and lab testing, for smaller class sizes in schools and to address the shortage in affordable housing.
She said they will also continue to oppose the government’s promise to explore abandoning the Canada Pension Plan in favour of an Alberta model and its pursuit of a provincial police force to replace the RCMP.
She said they will also be watching new Health Minster Adriana LaGrange does not impose restrictions on existing access to abortions given LaGrange’s anti-abortion beliefs.
Smith has already promised there will be no changes to a woman’s right to choose.
Notley declined to discuss the election campaign in detail or explore what led to the NDP loss.
She wouldn’t respond to a suggestion that a promised corporate tax hike, seized on as a wedge issue by the UCP, was a factor.
She defended attacking Smith’s recent record on the campaign trail, particularly Smith’s recent comments urging more direct pay in health care and Smith being found to have broken ethics laws by trying to get a COVID-19 protester’s criminal court case tossed out.
“We had a premier who was found to have broken the law in the course of interfering with the administration of justice,” said Notley.
“We had a premier who had advocated repeatedly in multiple forums for the privatization of our much-cherished public health care.
“These were issues that needed to be fully discussed and canvassed.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 13, 2023.
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