The UCP on the other hand could lose half the seats in Calgary and still win a majority government. The NDP appears on track to win all 20 seats in Edmonton and the UCP appears ready to once again win a large majority of the 41 seats outside the two big cities in rural areas and smaller municipalities.Įven if the NDP wins 20 in Edmonton and as many as 18 in Calgary, it still needs to win six seats in the “outlying” ridings just to squeak out the narrowest of majorities. To win a simple majority requires 44 seats of the province’s 87-seat legislature. A recent survey conducted by Calgary-based pollster Janet Brown indicated there were so many toss-up ridings in the city the NDP could win as many as 18 of them - but still lose the election. Now the city doesn’t seem to know itself. In the 2019 election, the UCP won 23 of the city’s 26 seats with the NDP getting just three. For years, the city reliably voted Conservative, until 2015, when vote splitting between the Progressive Conservatives and Wildrose allowed the NDP to slip up the middle. And that, believe it or not, plays a part in this campaign.Ĭalgary might be a modern city with way more Teslas than tractors, but it still prides itself on having a risk-taking entrepreneurial spirit rooted in conservative values. The NDP has moved its campaign headquarters from Edmonton to what Albertans affectionately call Cowtown, not because it has many cows but because it has so many wanna-be cowboys. Both Smith and Notley kicked off their campaigns Monday with news conferences in Calgary. The price of oil has rebounded during the past year, giving Smith something of a home-game advantage and she is happily promising to spend a record $68 billion of budget money on everything from hospitals to schools to a new hockey arena for Calgary.Īnd Calgary is where this campaign will be focused, not just figuratively but literally.
Smith, meanwhile, is trying to make it a referendum on Notley’s time as premier from 2015-2019, when the NDP government had the bad luck to be in charge during an oil-price recession. Notley would love to make it a referendum on Smith’s unsuitability as premier. Notley is having to promise Albertans she won’t raise their taxes.īoth are pledging to improve the health-care system, provide more help with cost-of-living pressures and provide stable leadership. Smith is having to reassure Albertans she supports the public health-care system. And both have been so effective in their attacks they’ve put each other on the defensive.
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