Route route links
- Politics
- opinion
- Local news
- Columnists
The leadership race is always likely to turn to criticism of the government as candidates battle for support and selling members. But they start to score for their own network
Author of the article:
Don Braid • Calgary Herald
Publication date:
August 3, 2022 • 1 day ago • 3 minutes read • 224 comments Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley speaks at a press conference in Calgary on Thursday, June 16, 2022. Photo by Azin Ghaffari / Postmedia
Content of the article
It is becoming increasingly difficult to tell who is running more against the United Conservative Party: NDP leader Rachel Notley or the UCP leadership candidates.
Advertisement 2
This ad has not yet loaded, but your article continues below.
Content of the article
Dr Deena Hinshaw’s huge $229,911 bonus, handed out by the government itself, has sparked a flood of criticism from prime ministerial hopefuls.
Danielle Smith said Albertans are “rightfully shocked and outraged” by the cash award to the chief medical officer. He promised a formal review of the UCP’s response to the pandemic, including Hinshaw’s role.
Brian Jean said: “Travis Toews, you are saying that as Finance Minister you did not know that 107 people, including employees of the Prime Minister’s Office and your ministry, received $2.4 million in COVID bonuses ?
“How can this be? Who cares about the store?”
Toews says he knew nothing about the bonus. On Wednesday, he posted a pledge on Facebook: “As Prime Minister, no bonuses without a minister’s signature.”
Advertisement 3
This ad has not yet loaded, but your article continues below.
Content of the article
Notley said that when the NDP was in office, both she and the finance minister would have been aware of and rejected any such payments.
“Didn’t Toews know about this bonus? If not, he had no business being finance minister,” he added.
Travis Toews. Photo by Ian Kucerak / Postmedia
Notley was in Calgary on Wednesday to release documents showing ambulance red alerts are happening 10 times more often than in 2019. He said that means there were “up to 10 hours in a month when there weren’t not a single ambulance available.”
The NDP has been hammering health care closures, staff shortages and wait times for months, which now includes reduced service hours at Airdrie urgent care centers and the South Health Campus Calgary.
UCP candidates more often than not shy away from embarrassing reports from the health care trenches.
Advertisement 4
This ad has not yet loaded, but your article continues below.
Content of the article
Instead, they focus on general issues such as AHS governance. Toews, for example, has asked for a return to regional health authorities. Several candidates think reorganization is the key.
Notley says, “In the middle of this, this is what they think should be a priority? Give me a break.”
He alleges that the UCP “is not interested in solving the problems. They see this as an opportunity to deeply deconstruct the health care system. . . . They are running on a platform to make it much worse.”
The leadership race is always likely to turn to criticism of the government as candidates battle for support and selling members. But they start to score for their own network.
The latest fundraising totals show the NDP moving ahead once again, with $2,467,315 raised in the first six months of this year.
Advertisement 5
This ad has not yet loaded, but your article continues below.
Content of the article
UCP raised $1,409,149 in the same period, though that doesn’t include totals for individual hikes.
The seven leadership candidates, each paying $175,000 for the privilege of running, provide the UCP with more than $1 million.
Candidates, left to right, Todd Loewen, Danielle Smith, Rajan Sawhney, Rebecca Schulz, Leela Aheer, Travis Toews and Brian Jean attend the Alberta United Conservative Party leadership candidate debate in Medicine Hat, Alta. , Wednesday July 27. 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
But the well-funded NDP is already doing something the UCP can’t match during a leadership race.
The party is running what looks and feels like an election campaign almost 10 months before the vote scheduled for next May 29.
NDP radio ads connecting Notley and the party have been playing in Calgary for weeks. In smaller centers where the NDP is strong, social media ads are targeted at voters.
“The reason we can start this early is because of the generosity of our donors and supporters,” says Brandon Stevens, the party’s senior secretary.
Advertisement 6
This ad has not yet loaded, but your article continues below.
Content of the article
“If we can continue to post the fundraising numbers we’ve had over the last year and a half, we can continue this kind of campaign.”
Presumably, the NDP already has enough for the full 28-day campaign next spring. This frees up current contributions for the early push into Calgary, the key battleground.
In the old PC days, the Alberta Conservatives ran leadership campaigns five times while in government, often criticizing their own record without a moment’s concern for the weak opposition.
They’re back again. But the modern PND is not that opposition.
Don Braid’s column appears regularly in the Herald.
Twitter: @DonBraid
Share this article on your social network
Advertisement 1
This ad has not yet loaded, but your article continues below.
Sign up for daily headline news from the Calgary Herald, a division of Postmedia Network Inc.
By clicking the sign up button, you agree to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom of our emails. Postmedia Network Inc. | 365 Bloor Street East, Toronto, Ontario, M4W 3L4 | 416-383-2300
Thanks for signing up!
A welcome email is on its way. If you don’t see it, check your junk folder.
The next issue of the Calgary Herald Headline News will be in your inbox soon.
We encountered a problem registering you. Please try again
comments
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil discussion forum and encouraging all readers to share their views on our articles. Comments may take up to an hour to be moderated before appearing on the site. Please keep your comments relevant and respectful. We’ve enabled email notifications: You’ll now receive an email if you get a reply to your comment, there’s an update to a comment thread you follow, or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to adjust your email settings.