The Weekly Roundup - May 15
If you’re a typical Albertan, you likely spent the weekend watching playoff hockey, hoping for rain to help with the ongoing wildfires and rushing to your local drug store to buy a Mother’s Day card. At least, that’s what the UCP are hoping you did this weekend. After a tough week on the hustings for the incumbent party, Leader Danielle Smith is looking to hit a giant reset button as we reach the halfway mark of the campaign.
Truth be told, the final two weeks are what really matters in this election. This Thursday at 6 p.m. Danielle Smith and Rachel Notley will face off in the only provincial debate of the campaign. Smith will get a chance to hone her debate messaging in two local constituency debates on Tuesday in Brooks and Wednesday in Medicine Hat.
While loyalists to both the NDP and UCP are shouting into the void of social media about their campaign being the best, the real work continues in the ground game of knocking on doors and identifying support. This week serves as a final push to build up confirmed support lists before transitioning to getting those supporters to advance polls open next week following the long weekend.
Below, you’ll find the top federal and provincial stories of the week.
Top Federal Stories of the Week
The Prime Minister will be looking to shift gears while playing the role of elder statesman in a week-long visit to Asia. After a quick stop in Edmonton today to meet with CAF personnel assisting in wildfire relief efforts, the PM is en route to South Korea where he will make the first prime ministerial visit since 2014 when Stephen Harper did the same. Later this week, Trudeau will join his G7 counterparts in Japan along with eight other guest nations where those at the meeting will in part be looking to push back against Russia and China.
While in Asia, the Prime Minister will miss the last sitting week of a five week stretch. Key on the committee agenda this week will be Conservative MP Michael Chong’s appearance before the Procedure and House Affairs Committee Tuesday evening where he will testify as a witness on a “question of privilege related to the intimidation campaign against the Member for Wellington—Halton Hills and other Members”.
Never doubt the power of a good cheeseburger. Baconators from local Wendy’s franchisee and St. Thomas Mayor Joe Preston helped seal the deal for the $14 billion Volkswagen battery plant in southwestern Ontario, according to a new report from the Canadian Press. The story comes as Stellantis halts construction on their electric vehicle battery plant in Windsor due to an ongoing dispute with Ottawa for a discrepancy in funding promises.
Top Alberta Stories of the Week
With the official deadline for candidates to be nominated having passed on May 11, you can expect both parties to dive into their archives to release any opposition research they may have. Of course, to date the oppo research has been particularly punishing for the UCP, including for leader Danielle Smith, who enjoyed a career in politics and talk radio speaking extemporaneously on a wide range of subjects with a wide range of results.
As mentioned above, the leader’s debate will take place this Thursday. You can expect that both leaders are hard at work this week participating in mock debates with a stand-in from their campaign serving as their adversary on the top issues.
The framing of the debate in the media, a top event on the campaign calendar, can be deceiving. The previously mentioned “three-pronged stool” (Edmonton, Calgary, rest of Alberta) of Alberta politics means that anything but an outright loss in the debate would still be considered a win for the UCP’s Danielle Smith.
While many may be hoping for fireworks in the debate, the tried and true Wells’s Rules of politics state that ”for any given situation, Canadian politics will tend toward the least exciting possible outcome.” For every one “look in the mirror” turning point in an election, there are countless other debates that haven’t moved the needle a bit. Have we made you want to tune in yet?Both parties will continue to roll out platform commitments on a wide range of topics including public safety, arts and culture and supporting small business.
You can read a transcript of New West CEO Monte Solberg’s appearance on the West Block breaking down the latest in the Alberta election here.
Upcoming Events Calendar
May 23-May 27, 2023: Advance voting takes place with at least one location open in each electoral division
May 29, 2023: The next Alberta Provincial General Election will be held
June 19, 2023: Byelections will be held in four federal ridings (all seats are considered to be safe for their respective incumbent party)